Visiting the Hometown of May 22nd Terrorists： Most junior high school graduates can’t write Chinese characters.

　　On the night of May 23rd, Xinjiang Public Security Department announced that the "May 22nd" serious terrorism case in Urumqi had been solved. The four terrorists who committed crimes and were killed on the spot were all from Pishan County, Xinjiang. When I learned that the Global Times reporter was going to Pishan County, all kinds of well-meaning advice poured in. "You don’t want to go to Pishan County, right? This time all the terrorists are there!" "The anti-terrorism situation there is grim, let’s talk about it after a while." "There are unknown risks, so don’t go." Before the "5.22" terrorism incident, a person familiar with the anti-terrorism situation in Xinjiang told reporters that terrorism incidents often occurred in Pishan County and Mo Yuxian in southern Xinjiang, and some villages in Pishan County were even called "terrorist base camps". On the 24th, the reporter of Global Times arrived in Pishan County, and did not feel the obvious terror atmosphere in the county town and Guma Town. After in-depth interviews, the reporter found that the emergence of terrorists in the local area was not accidental, poor and closed, and even a few cadres were not serious in their work, which may be the hot springs generated by the terrorist forces.

　　There is no terror in the county seat.

　　After the reporter arrived in Hotan by plane, he met the driver Chen who had made an appointment in advance. "Is Pishan safe?" "If I am here, you are there." Master Chen’s smile immediately subsided. "You can go to the county, but you can’t go to the countryside." Earlier, sources said that in the "July 5" incident in Xinjiang in 2009, many terrorists involved in the murder came from Pishan, and in 2011, there were also terrorist incidents in which more than a dozen terrorists took hostages and killed police officers. Nowadays, the activities of cadres entering the village are carried out in Pishan County. Driven by the working group, the residents in the village have made efforts to participate in the joint defense in the village. However, it is reported that terrorists are still waiting for opportunities to commit crimes, and some suspects involved in terrorism have not yet been arrested, which makes the anti-terrorism situation in Pishan County more complicated. The Xinjiang police quickly determined that the four terrorists in the "5.22" mega-terrorism case were from Pishan County, probably because they left clues related to Pishan County when committing the crime.

　　Geographically, Pishan County, which belongs to Hotan area, is located at the southern edge of Taklimakan Desert and at the northern foot of Karakorum Mountain, bordering Hotan County, Mo Yuxian, bachu county and other counties and cities where serious terrorist incidents have occurred. The reporter takes a bus from Hotan City to Pishan County for about 200 kilometers. There are some places with lush vegetation along the way. The most common ones are poplars, walnut trees, corn, wheat, and even small pieces of rice in some places. However, this area is close to the desert, and the climate is dry. The Gobi Desert is the most on the road as far as the eye can see.

　　Geographically, Pishan County borders Hotan County, Mo Yuxian, bachu county and other counties and cities where serious terrorist incidents have occurred.

　　After entering Guma Town, Pishan County, the reporter was suddenly enlightened. The straight and wide truth, clean environment and spectacular grape trellis on the roadside made it impossible to connect this place with the rumored Pishan. The Uighur slogan hanging on the lamp post seems to emphasize how important "peace" is-"peace is the greatest benefit, stability is the most beautiful environment, peace is a blessing, peace is a joy, and peace makes people extremely happy". After entering the county seat, the reporter walked around the county seat on foot and found that the security level and tension here were not high. A dozen Han women are dancing in the square dance, and not far away, a dozen Uighur men are playing poker together. You can often see Uighur and Han friends chatting together in the street. The reporter asked a Sichuan girl who had opened a restaurant in the county for three years, did she know that the "5.22" terrorists came from Pishan, and was she afraid? She said, "No, it’s not tense here. Maybe it’s because there are few people and nothing can be done." Xiao Wang, who has lived in the county for a long time, said that if 10 points is a perfect score, he will give 7 points to the public security in the county and 5 points to the countryside.

　　Although life in the county is very calm, there are also some phenomena that make people feel a little nervous. For example, when the reporter checked into the hotel, the boss scanned the reporter’s ID card and said that this system goes directly to the public security department in Urumqi. If you find something wrong, the police will be here in two minutes. On the street, there are not many police cars, but there are many slogans to maintain stability, such as "solidly carrying out illegal religious activities according to law and cracking down on extremely illegal religious crimes", "comprehensive management, police and people holding hands, and building police and people together peacefully".

　　Xiao Wang told reporters that there are two things to remember here: one is not to have conflicts with local people, and the other is to go out as little as possible at night. In his view, there are very few Han people in Pishan County, and communication is the biggest problem. He and the reporter came to a Bazaar (bazaar) around 9 pm, which was very lively, with cars, motorcycles, electric cars and pedestrians mixed together. In two hours, the reporter didn’t see the third Han nationality in Bazzarri. In contact with Uighur stall owners, the reporter found that most stall owners did not understand Mandarin, and an uncle who sold things said that he was a primary school teacher, but communication with reporters was also difficult. Nevertheless, the simplicity and friendliness of the local people are quite obvious. The reporter did not feel any potential danger when he came out of the motorcycle that often roared by.

　　What is a hotbed of frequent terrorism?

　　It is obviously not comprehensive to judge only according to the situation of Pishan County and Guma Town. To this end, the reporter interviewed three relevant people who often went deep into the most basic villages. Adili, a Uighur boy who once taught in Pishan County and often worked in the countryside, said that many villages in Pishan County have a strong religious atmosphere, and the township of Keke Tiereke, where he has been, "does not sell cigarettes or alcohol". The school requires female teachers and students not to wear headscarves, but in these places, many people wear them because they will be scolded for not wearing them. Adili was in charge of teaching Chinese when he was a teacher, but he said that the enthusiasm of local people to learn Chinese was not very high, and now it has improved slightly. For example, most students who graduated from junior high school can’t write their names in Chinese characters, especially in rural areas. This is not only related to the lack of language environment, but also to the low professional level of local teachers. According to local regulations, you can only get a marriage certificate if you graduate from junior high school. Some children insist on going to school, otherwise they may not go to school long ago. Even so, many students don’t like classes at ordinary times, and there may be only a dozen people in a class of thirty or forty. When talking about the living standards of local people, Adili said that it was "relatively poor", and some people lived in adobe houses in the village. In the farmer’s market, you may see someone selling slippers that are particularly cheap, and many people wear them. There are also some people who live on subsistence allowances and relief.

　　Regarding the poverty situation in some villages in Pishan County, Mr. Wang told reporters that some farmers are surrounded by families and can’t even eat corn flour. Pishan county is short of water, and the varieties of red dates and walnuts are not good, so they can’t be sold at a high price. The threshold for farming is high, and the whole family can earn 10 thousand yuan a year by picking cotton together. Some people have loans, but they can’t repay them by farming. The corruption of some grassroots cadres has also aggravated the living burden of the people. In this case, some places have fallen into a vicious circle of getting poorer and more chaotic.

　　"As long as the terrorists are exposed, they must be severely cracked down. However, every time a terrorist incident occurs, we should all reflect, and major cases should even be investigated and held accountable." Mr. Yan is a grass-roots civil servant. He said that an important reason for the frequent occurrence of terrorism cases in southern Xinjiang is that very few grass-roots cadres are not serious and responsible in their work on the issue of right and wrong, and even have ambiguous attitudes. Of course, most grassroots cadres in southern Xinjiang are under unimaginable pressure. For example, not long ago, a major terrorism case occurred. Grassroots cadres went into villages, households, investigated and arranged in succession. Finally, no one said that they were resting, and everyone went to work automatically every day, which lasted for a month. However, there are also some cadres who just stand at the door of others when they touch the row, which is neither dangerous nor tiring. In the final analysis, this is a kind of resistance and great harm. After a major case was cracked, it was found that the hiding place of terrorists was a place that had been touched many times. In the long run, the efforts of many grassroots cadres will be wasted.

　　There is a long way to go to find a radical cure.

　　The formation of terrorists is a long and complicated process. A related person told the reporter that in addition to being sent to the village working group, investing heavily in education is an important part of Pishan County to change the status quo. In addition to infrastructure construction, the government has also introduced a policy of "two exemptions and one subsidy" to reduce or subsidize students’ tuition and miscellaneous fees and book fees. Every rural school has built a canteen, 20% of poor students enjoy food subsidies, and rural teachers give transportation subsidies. Every year, Anhui Province sends 30 excellent teachers to Pishan County to teach, and Pishan County sends 50 teachers to Anhui Province to study Chinese. In addition, the regional education bureau requires that local courses must be offered, and the course offered in Pishan County is the national unity education course. In order to ensure the safety of teachers, the relevant institutions require five to six security guards in each school, and there are also militia in the township. In some places, two minority teachers are required to be responsible for the safety of a Han teacher. All these are gradually achieving results.

　　The trip to Pishan gave reporters a brand-new understanding of all kinds of complex factors affecting the local security situation, and paid deep respect to the grassroots cadres, police officers and aided teachers in southern Xinjiang. As a local grass-roots cadre told reporters, "After all, we should work hard and eat hard, because this is our own home."