ABSTRACT
Deradicalisation is understood in terms of deliberately focusing on an ideology or the psychological aspects of an existing violent phenomenon to wean away the radicalised groups and minimise the risk of re-radicalisation. The scale of radicalisation and the rise in violence in Xinjiang till 2005 had been mapped by Garner Bovingdon, who identified 158 political violent events and organised protests from 1949 to 2005, of which 142 had a clear ethnic component. The necessity to deradicalise is imminent if the state wants to avert the growth of separatism as a challenge to long-term political stability in Xinjiang. The militant movement in Xinjiang led by the East Turkestan Islamic movement/Tu-Dong forces and later by the Tukistan Islamic Party has reorganised along religious lines after the demise of the Eastern Turkestan People’s Party. China has closed down several mosques and increased control over the Islamic clergy through the China Islamic Organisation.
