ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan is urging China to ease pressures on the country's Muslim minority amid warnings by rights groups that the Uighurs in China face restrictions on religious activities and mass detentions in so-called "re-education camps."

The appeal comes as Pakistan has had traditionally good ties with its large neighbor.

Pakistan's minister for religious affairs, Noorul Haq Qadri, met Chinese envoy Yao Xing this week to discuss the situation of the Uighurs in China's western Xinijian province.

Human Right Watch says forcible detentions of "thousands of Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities" in Xinijian started in 2017.

Qadri says such pressures could foment reactionary extremist viewpoints and urged Beijing to take concrete steps on the issue.

Analysts say Pakistan's move is significant amid growing pressure on China over human rights violations.