BEIJING (AFP) — A Chinese plan to demolish parts of the Silk Road city of Kashgar has drawn opposition from an exiled Uighur leader, who accused Beijing Wednesday of destroying the Muslim minority's culture.
"The demolition of Kashgar Old City is an affront to Uighur identity and is an attempt to assimilate Uighurs," Washington-based exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer said in an emailed statement.

"I lament the loss of such a unique site of world heritage, and call on people across the globe to let the Chinese government know that this demolition robs the world of an irreplaceable community," she said.

Kashgar is an oasis market town in China's westernmost Xinjiang region that borders Central Asia and was a traditional meeting point for Chinese and Central Asian traders along the ancient Silk Road.

Despite an influx of Han Chinese in recent decades, Kashgar is mainly populated by Turkic-speaking Uighurs and other Central Asian ethnic groups such as Kazakhs and Tajiks.

According to a report posted on the Xinjiang government's news website, the buildings in the ancient inner city of Kashgar are dangerous and need to be demolished and rebuilt.

The government launched a three-billion-yuan (440-million-dollar) plan in late February to move nearly 50,000 families out of Kashgar's ancient city centre, it said.

The plan calls for rebuilding dangerous structures, installing water and electricity infrastructure and widening roads and alleys, it said.

"The ancient city is dangerous and has become susceptible to a serious earthquake disaster," the website said, adding: "With a history of over a thousand years it is under constant erosion from the elements."

Kadeer, 62, who heads the Uighur American Association, was once a prominent businesswoman in Xinjiang but was jailed in 1999 for "leaking state secrets".

She was released and sent into exile in 2005. She has been nominated for the Nobel peace prize, according to reports.