Side by side, fight against terrorism

"After getting so much support, we are more convinced that we have done the right thing!" Mardan, one of the co-authors of the joint letter told People's Daily on May 2 that silence equates to condoning violence and terrorism.

In a joint letter written by eleven Uygur university students that has gone viral online, students expressed in their own words their outrage over the terrorist attack that occurred on April 30 in Xinjiang.

The letter was written and first published on Weibo, part of China's social media, at 5:13 am on May 1, 2014. It condemned the inhuman violence of the terrorists and their conspiracy to create panic among people from different ethnic groups, and to provoke conflict and hatred.

Mardan said that the attack happened while he was having a meal with his parents in a restaurant near the railway station. Mardan is a mechanical engineering graduate from Xinjiang University. His parents had traveled from their home to Urumqi that day to visit him. After the incident, he decided along with some friends that he would not remain silent.

"In accordance with what we have agreed, this letter is drafted up by Kurban. Others have proposed amendments, and all have signed the joint letter." Mardan said many of the reponses and thumb-ups on weibo came from strangers. Even some of the co-authors had not met with each other before. But they all have one thing in common — a determination to make their voices heard.

At first, Mardan did not tell his parents about the letter. After it went viral online, his parents heard about it and told their son that he had done the right thing.

Hurxidan, another co-author of the letter, has received a phone call from Zhang Jianping, party committee secretary of Yuer Qixiang County. Zhang praised the action and offered to publish a Uyghur version of the letter.

"Support from many other people makes us feel that we have done a significant thing." Hurxidan is a master's degree candidate majoring in international politics in Xinjiang University. He used to work as a volunteer teacher in Yuer Qixiang County in Xijiang.

The eleven students are Abudrixit and Kurban from North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power; Mardan and Hurxidan from Xinjiang University; Marlisa from Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Ferhad from Beijing University of Chemical Technology; Airxit from Beijing Foreign Studies University; Emran from Shanghai Foreign Studies University; Yusuf from Shanghai University; Xuhlat from Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics and Sikandar from Xinjiang Medical University.