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By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |
November 3, 2020 2:31:19 pm
The bright green domes are gone. The golden minarets, structurally altered. Where once stood the famous Nanguan Mosque, a popular tourist attraction in China’s Ningxia province, now stands a building without any traces of its Islamic origin.
The whitewashing of the religious structure came to light when Christina Scott, United Kingdom’s Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in China, was surprised to find the mosque has been replaced during a recent visit.
Shared the before and after images of the Nanguan Mosque on Twitter, she wrote: “Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing.”
TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in #Yinchuan well worth a visit. Only this is what it looks like now, after ‘renovations’. Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing. pic.twitter.com/WSXaAFclHX
— Christina Scott (@CScottFCDO) October 18, 2020
According to the Telegraph, this was not the first instance where Islamic structures have been stripped of their architecture. Countless other mosques in the neighbouring Linxia in Gansu province met with a similar fate.
This is being seen as China’s attempt to suppress religious freedom. Recently, its treatment of the Uighur Muslim population residing in the north-western Xinjiang province was met with severe global criticism. According to an Amnesty International report, China detained and indoctrinated thousands of Uighurs in detention camps and suppressed their basic freedoms and human rights.
Since then several nations including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia among others have raised their voice against China’s human right abuses.