In the spring of 1937, rebellion again broke out in Southern
Xinjiang. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak. In an effort to appease the
Turkic Muslims,
Sheng Shicai had appointed a number of their non-secessionist leaders, including
Khoja Niyaz Hajji and
Yulbars Khan, another leader of the Kumul uprising (February 20, 1931– November 30, 1931), to positions of influence in the provincial government, both in
Di Hua (modern Ürümqi) and
Kashgar. At the same time, educational reforms, which attacked basic Islamic principles and the atheistic propaganda program, which was being extended into the south, were further alienating the local population from Sheng's administration. In Kashgar Mahmud Sijang, a wealthy Muslim, former leader of the
Turpan uprising (1932) and one of Sheng's appointees, became the focal point for opposition to the government. Meanwhile, in
Afghanistan under
Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan, Muhammad Amin, the exiled leader of the
Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET, known as the first East Turkestan Republic), had approached the
Japanese ambassador in 1935 with "a detailed plan proposing the establishment of an 'Eastern Turkestan Republic' under Japanese sponsorship, with munitions and finance to be supplied by
Tokyo... he suggested as the future leader of this proposed
Central Asian '
Manchukuo' none other than Mahmud Sijang (
Mahmut Muhiti – commander of the 6th Uyghur
Division, stationed in Kashgar as part of the
Sinkiang provincial armed forces, since July 20, 1934), amongst the invitation at such political entity as
Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere how active member." However, this plan was aborted when Mahmud, fearful for his life, fled from Kashgar to
India on April 2, 1937, after failed attempt of
Sheng Shicai to disarm his troops by offering to "modernize" weapons of 6th Uyghur Division, prior which all old weapons of Division was to be given over to Urumchi representatives. Mahmud's flight sparked an uprising amongst his troops against provincial authorities. Those who were pro-
Soviet in any way were executed and yet another independent
Muslim administration was set up under leadership of the close associate of Mahmut Muhiti General Abduniyaz (killed in action in
Yarkand on August 15, 1937), who adopted a command of troops, which enlisted about 4,000 soldiers and officers, consisted of 4 regiments, two of them being stationed in Kashgar, one in
Yangihissar, one in Yarkand, also one brigade was stationed in
Ustin Atush and one cavalry guard escadron in Kashgar.
Sheng Shicai's provincial troops were defeated and routed by rebels in the fierce battle near city of
Karashahr in July 1937, but eventually the uprising was quelled by Soviet troops (by the so-called
Kyrgyz Brigade, about 5,000 troops, consisted of two tactical groups-
Oshskaya and
Narinskaya, each included 2 mountain regiments, one of
Red Army and one of
NKVD, reinforced by armoured vehicles, tank battalion (21
BT-7) and aviation; there were unconfirmed reports of the use of chemical weapons by these intervention forces against rebels), invited by Sheng Shicai to intervene in August 1937. In 1940, Muhammad Amin published the book
Sharkiy Turkestan Tarihi (East Turkestan History) while in exile in
Kashmir, which described the history of the region from ancient times to the present day and contained an analysis of the reasons for the loss of its
independence in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1940
Isa Yusuf Alptekin and Ma Fuliang who were sent by
Chiang Kai-shek, visited Afghanistan and contacted Bughra, they asked him to come to
Chongqing, the capital of the
Kuomintang regime. Bughra was arrested by the British in 1942 for spying for Japan and the Kuomintang arranged for Bughra's release. He and Isa Yusuf worked as editors of Kuomintang Muslim publications. Under the
Zhang Zhizhong regime in Xinjiang, he was provincial commissioner. . Muhammad Amin and fellow
Pan-Turkic Jadidist Masud Sabri rejected the Soviet imposition of the name "
Uyghur people" upon the Turkic people of Xinjiang. They wanted instead the name "Turkic ethnicity" (Tujue zu in Chinese) to be applied to their people. Masud Sabri also viewed the
Hui people as Muslim Han Chinese and separate from his own people. The names "Türk" or "Türki" in particular were demanded by Bughra as the real name for his people. He slammed Sheng Shicai for his designation of Turkic Muslims into different ethnicities which could sow disunion among Turkic Muslims. In 1948, Bughra's wife
Amina was elected to the
Legislative Yuan. In December the same year he was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as vice-chairman of the Sinkiang Government, led by
Burhan Shahidi. He declared an alliance with the Chinese nationalists (Kuomintang) in order to gain autonomy for the Turkic people, under formal protection of the
Republic of China and necessity of quelling all communist forces in Sinkiang, including the Soviet backed
Second East Turkestan Republic. There were 3 Effendis (Üch Äpändi; ئۈچ ئەپەندى): Aisa Alptekin, Muhammad Amin and Masud Sabri. The Second East Turkestan Republic attacked them as Kuomintang "puppets". ==Exile==