It should be pointed out that Uighurs are Turkic-speaking Sunni Muslims that reside both in the urban and rural areas around the Taklimakan Desert, the very place where the ancient Silk Road used to pass through. Back in the 1990s, those lands gave birth to two groups, the World Uyghur Congress which is demanding independence through “peaceful” means, and ETIM which has chosen the path of terror. The office of the World Congress is based in New York and enjoys immense US support when Washington decides it’s time to criticize the “authoritarianism” of the Chinese government. In turn, ETIM has long been running its operational bases in Waziristan which remains a de-facto independent region out of reach of the Pakistani government.