The government of Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), vowed on October 8, to launch a campaign against the pan-halal tendency, and require officials and Party members to firmly believe in Marxism and Leninism and speak Putonghua in public. During a meeting on fighting pan-halal tendency, Liu Ming, Secretary of the leading Party members' group of the People's Procuratorate of Urumqi, asked officers of the People's Procuratorate in Urumqi to be more conscious of the ideological battle, take the lead to free minds and shake off conventional thinking. Officers of procuratorate are required to speak Putonghua in public and offices. Xiong Kunxin, an Ethnic Studies expert and Professor at Tibet University, hailed the campaign, saying "these demands are in line with the Party constitution. It should be promoted across Xinjiang." Officers of procuratorate organs across Urumqi are being encouraged to write articles to clearly express their stand against the pan-halal tendency. Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, hailed the move and said that the People's Procuratorate of Urumqi did the right thing. At the same time Zhu Weiqun warned that correcting pan-halal should not go too far as "the fight against the pan-halal tendency is not against halal." Officials should recognize the difference between pan-halal and halal. He added that the campaign should not target religious people by restricting their daily habits and privacy. Separately, an article written by an official from social security bureau in Bachu county, which belongs to Xinjiang's Kashgar Prefecture, to his daughter, titled "Enjoy the worldwide cuisine and marry your love," has been viewed on WeChat nearly 10,000 times as of press time.
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