PAKISTAN BLASPHEMY LYNCHING 

Imran assures Sri Lankan president culprits will be punished

Abid Mahmood

Published December 5, 2021 -

Pakistani industrialists pay tribute beside a photograph of late Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara, in Sialkot on December 4. — AFP

• 235 held in lynching case, 900 booked
• Body sent to Lahore; wife seeks justice
• Lankan PM says his country confident those involved will be brought to justice

NAROWAL: A first information report (FIR) has been registered against 900 workers of a garment factory in Sialkot for killing their Sri Lankan-national general manager and burning his body.

The Sialkot police arrested 235 people, including those who tortured Priyantha Kumara and recorded videos.

Hundreds of people, including the factory workers, protested against alleged blasphemy by Mr Kumara on Friday, tortured him to death and later burnt his body.

The FIR was registered against 900 workers of Rajco Industries on the application of Uggoki Station House Officer (SHO) Armaghan Maqt under sections 302, 297, 201, 427, 431, 157, 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 and 11WW of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The applicant admitted that the protesters had slapped, kicked, punched and hit Mr Kumara with sticks in his presence, and dragged him out of the factory on Wazirabad Road where he died. They then set the body on fire. The SHO said he was helpless in front of the mob owing to shortage of personnel.

Meanwhile, Sialkot police are conducting raids in the city, adjoining villages as well as in Sambrial, Daska and Pasrur tehsils to arrest the booked 900 suspects. Police are trying to identify the culprits through CCTV footage from the factory cameras as well as video clips that have gone viral on social media.

The 230 arrested include two main suspects, Mohammad Talha and Farhan Idrees, and all of them have been shifted to an undisclosed location. Rajco Industries remained closed on Saturday, and its workers were on the run to evade arrest.

Mr Kumara’s post-mortem was completed at Allama Iqbal Teaching Hospital in Sialkot according to which most of his body was burnt and several bones were broken due to the torture he suffered, said hospital sources.

Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Tahir Farooq said Mr Kumara’s body had been transported to a Lahore hospital in a Rescue 1122 ambulance amid tight security. After fulfilling formalities, it would be sent to Colombo.

PML-N MNA from Sialkot Khwaja Asif visited the garment factory on Saturday and inquired about the incident. He expressed grief over Mr Kumara’s killing. Local businessmen also hung pictures of Mr Kumara outside the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry and laid garlands on it.

Businessmen put candles and rose petals next to the portrait of Priyantha Kumara. — AP

Quoting unidentified police sources, Geo TV said some factory workers disliked the deceased general manager, a textile engineer, for being strict in enforcing discipline. After a routine inspection on Friday morning, Mr Kumara had snubbed the sanitary staff over poor work. The channel further reported that as the factory was about to undergo a whitewash, the manager started removing posters from walls. As one of the posters was an invitation to a religious moot, some workers objected to it.

The channel’s sources said Mr Kumara offered an apology, but a supervisor instigated the workers, who attacked him. Mr Kumara ran to the roof and tried to hide under solar panels, but the enraged workers got hold of him and killed him there and then.

Mr Kumara’s grieving wife, Niroshi Dasaniyake, has pleaded with both Pakistani and Sri Lankan leaders for justice for her slain husband.

“My husband was an innocent man. I found out from the news that after working abroad for so long he had been brutally murdered. I saw on the internet how inhuman the killing was. I appeal to the Sri Lankan president and the Pakistani prime minister and president to conduct a fair investigation so my husband and our two children get justice,” she said while speaking to BBC Sinhala.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan news website, Newswire, quoted Colombo’s High Commissioner in Pakistan Vice Admiral Mohan Wijewickrama as saying that arrangements were being made to transport the remains of Mr Kumara from Lahore to Colombo on a special flight on Monday.

A preliminary report on the lynching was presented to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. The CM called for arresting the remaining suspects soon, directing the investigation report be completed soon and presented in court. Mr Buzdar vowed the culprits would not escape punishment as he was personally monitoring the progress.

Special Assistant to Punjab CM on Information Hasaan Khawar on Saturday said 118 people had been arrested, including 13 primary suspects, in over 200 raids. Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Buzdar were personally monitoring the case and strict punishment would be meted out to all those involved in this brutality, he said in a joint press conference with the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) at the Directorate General Public Relations in Lahore.

Mr Khawar said no one was allowed to take law into their hands. A departmental inquiry was also being conducted to determine how much time police took to reach the spot after receiving the first call, and strict action would be taken in case of any delay or negligence, he added.

IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan said police took prompt action and arrested the 13 primary suspects in less than 24 hours. More than 12 hours of footage from 160 CCTV cameras and mobile data analyses of the people present on the spot had also been examined. Talking about the time police took to respond, he said they received the first call at 11:28am and at 11:45am the Uggoki SHO along with his team reached the spot.

By the time the force reached, Mr Kumara had been murdered, he said, adding that on being informed of the incident, the Sialkot district police chief and senior superintendent of police along with a heavy contingent rushed to the crime scene and brought law and order situation under control.

IGP Khan further said the Counter-Terrorism Department, Special Branch and senior officers concerned partook in the operation and a team of senior officers was investigating all aspects of the incident.

Responding to a question, the IGP said the suspects would be tried in the anti-terrorism court and the police would soon complete the investigation and present the suspects in court to punish them as soon as possible.

At a press conference on Saturday in Lahore, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi condemned the incident and said the premier was monitoring the investigation into the case. PM Khan had given 48 hours to the investigating agencies to bring forth the facts, he said while answering a question.

He said the Sri Lankan High Commission and foreign secretary had been updated on every detail of the case and they appreciated Pakistan’s prompt response. He stressed that the culprits would be brought to book. “The lynching of a Sri Lankan citizen will not affect Pakistan-Sri Lanka bilateral relations as it was a work of a group of people and the nation or the country cannot be blamed for it,” he added.

The FM said Islamabad had also contacted the family of the deceased and would fulfil their wishes.

Mr Qureshi also tweeted that he spoke to his Lankan counterpart and offered condolences. “Spoke to my brother FM Gamini Lakshman Peiris of #SriLanka and expressed my deep grief and condolences.”



FM Qureshi added that Pakistan would ensure the perpetrators were punished. “The political leadership & Pakistani nation strongly condemn killing of a Sri Lankan national. We offer our sincere condolences to bereaved family, govt & people of #SriLanka & will ensure perpetrators are brought to justice. Such acts have no place in our faith & country,” he said in the tweet.

Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan also spoke to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and conveyed the nation’s anger and shame to the people of Sri Lanka over the vigilante killing of Kumara in Sialkot.

In a tweet, he wrote: “Spoke to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today in UAE to convey our nation’s anger & shame to people of Sri Lanka at vigilante killing of Priyantha Diyawadana in Sialkot. I informed him 100+ ppl arrested & assured him they would be prosecuted with full severity of the law.”




The Sri Lankan president also tweeted that his country trusted that the Pakistan government and PM would ensure justice in the case. “Deeply concerned by the incident in Sialkot #Pakistan. #SriLanka trusts that PM @ImranKhanPTI and the Gvt. of Pakistan will ensure justice is served and ensure the safety of the remaining Sri Lankan workers in Pakistan,” he wrote.




Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa tweeted that his country was confident his Pakistani counterpart will fulfil his commitment to bring those involved to justice. “Shocking to see the brutal and fatal attack on Priyantha Diyawadana by extremist mobs in #Pakistan. My heart goes out to his wife and family. #SriLanka and her people are confident that PM @ImranKhanPTI will keep to his commitment to bring all those involved to justice,” he tweeted.




Chief of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, while condemning the “shameful” incident called for a thorough investigation, but in the same breath said such attacks would happen if the state did not act against those suspected of committing blasphemy. “In the past, such reactions have come when those accused of blasphemy have been sent abroad under government supervision,” he said in an indirect reference to Asia Bibi.

Former chairman of the Central Ruet-i-Hilal Committee, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, also condemned the incident but called on the media to desist from blaming any group or individual before completion of the investigation into the matter.

In a statement, he said there were no grounds to take the law into one’s hands when a constitutional and legal system existed in the country despite all the shortcomings it may have.

“Anarchy and lawlessness spread in society, which are not in any way beneficial for the country, and a negative image of the country is created on the international level,” the statement quoted him as saying.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

'What have we become?': Activists, celebrities express horror over Sialkot lynching

Visuals of a mob torturing a Sri Lankan factory manager to death over blasphemy allegations were widely shared on social media.

Dawn.com

The news that a Sri Lankan man was lynched at a factory in Sialkot on Friday sent shockwaves through Pakistanis on Twitter.

The mob tortured the man, identified as Priyantha Kumara, to death over blasphemy allegations before burning his body.

As videos and pictures of the incident flooded social media, politicians, diplomats, activists and netizens expressed shock over the gruesomeness of the murder and called the government's attention to the rising extremism in the country.

READ ON

'What have we become?': Activists, celebrities express horror over Sialkot lynching - Pakistan - DAWN.COM

Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry for new SOPs for industry to avoid fanaticism, violence

Sources said the meeting participants were worried how they would explain the lynching incident to their foreign customers across the globe, particularly in the western countries.

Waseem Ashraf Butt

Published December 5, 2021 -

An emergency meeting of the business leaders of Sialkot was held at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) office on Saturday. — Photo courtesy: Twitter

GUJRAT: The business fraternity of Sialkot has decided to formulate new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for production operations in factories to avoid tragic incident like lynching of a Lankan factory manager in future.

Moreover, the export-based companies having foreign nationals among their staff have also been asked to take special security measures for the foreigners, besides training security guards to cope with any such situation in future.

An emergency meeting of the business leaders of Sialkot was held at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) office on Saturday with SCCI president Mian Imran Akbar in the chair. The meeting was also attended by the chairmen of all the trade and export associations.

Sources said the meeting participants were worried how they would explain the lynching incident to their foreign customers across the globe, particularly in the western countries.

Especially focuses on security of foreigner employees

SCCI President Mr Akbar told Dawn the scars the Friday incident left on the export-based industry of Sialkot might take a long time to heal. However, he said, the local businessmen were committed to steer the industry out of the situation with some targeted measures and discussed various proposals “that could not be discussed in the media until such measures were in place”.

He said that it was decided in the meeting to arrange lectures of religious scholars and Ulema for counseling of factory workers, sensitizing them about the scantily of human life and teachings of Islam.

Mr Akbar said though he could not share any data about the number of foreigners working in Sialkot-based industry, all the foreigners had been doing office jobs, and none of them was part of manufacturing or working on machines.

Besides, he said the owners of the factories employing foreigners had also been asked to make special security arrangements for such staffers.

To express solidarity with the whole Sri Lankan nation and the family of the deceased, Priyantha Diyawadan, a condolence reference was also organised at the SCCI.

It is learnt that some businessmen have suggested to the SCCI and trade associations to not allow display of any kind of religious material etc inside the factories’ work stations and offices to avoid such a situation in future.

Speaking at the reference, the SCCI president said the incident did not represent the industry’s usual environment, neither it defines the people of Sialkot. He hoped the exports-based city would rise from this and would continue to portray a positive image of Pakistan.

He said the SCCI condemned the barbaric act of violence resulting in tragic death of a Sri Lankan citizen working in Pakistan, urging the government and the law enforcement agencies to crackdown on all the perpetrators and inciters involved in the ugly incident and bring them to justice.

Expressing solidarity with the bereaved family, he said December 03, 2021, would go down as a dark day in the history of Sialkot that always showed tolerance and religious harmony.

Mr Akbar said there was no place for fanaticism and violence in society and that the miscreants involved in such wicked acts did not belong to any religion, caste, or creed.

He said late Diyawadana was a thorough professional known for his stern production standards and that the personal vendetta on part of some labourers in the garb of “religious sentiments” led to his lynching.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

PAKISTAN BLASPHEMY LYNCHING

Sialkot tragedy cannot be defended, Pakistani Americans say

Anwar Iqbal

Published December 5, 2021 -

A man along with others carries a sign, condemning the lynching of the Sri Lankan manager of a garment factory after an attack on the factory in Sialkot, during a protest in Lahore, on Dec 4. — Reuters


WASHINGTON: “The Sialkot tragedy will have a horrible impact on our efforts to promote Pakistan in the US Congress,” says Dr Rao Kamran Ali, who heads the Pakistani American Political Action Committee.

Wajid Hassan of the Pakistani American Congress fears that this incident will have a long-lasting effect. “Every time we go and talk about Pakistan, they will ask about the Sialkot incident.”

Agha Hasnain, a Pakistani runner who has run 135 marathons in each of the 50 US states, says that whenever he gets a chance, he talks about Pakistan after an event. “But now, it will be very difficult to do so. This is unbelievably bad news for Pakistan.”

President PTI Washington, DC Junaid (Johnny) Bashir says he is ‘devastated.’ “We need to act now, arrest all those responsible and ensure that all of them are punished.”

Khawar Shamsul Hassan, a Pakistani American entrepreneur, agrees. “It is the perceived and real absence of law and order and accountability that emboldens the extremists to do such things,” he says.

The incident has jolted the Pakistani American community like the Peshawar school tragedy did in 2014. From Los Angeles, California, to Baltimore, Maryland, Pakistani Americans have posted hundreds of thousands of messages on social media, expressing their grief, anger and fear.

“They have turned the country into a madhouse,” says Bushra Ahmed of Baltimore. “Who will bell this insane cat?” asks Ras Siddiqui of Sacramento, California.

Mr Hassan of the Pakistani American Congress, who is from Seattle, Washington, says his group has been lobbying for Pakistan for the last eight years. “Every now and then, something happens that tarnishes the country’s image,” he says.

“This indicates that we have no tolerance for religious minorities in Pakistan. It will have a negative impact on everything, from tourism to investment,” he adds. “American lawmakers will be asking about it every time we go to discuss Pakistan with them.”

He thinks that it will also impede Pakistan’s effort to come off the FATF gray list and will be mentioned in international reports on religious intolerance as well.

Dr Khalid Abdullah of the Physicians for Social Responsibility NGO suggests “reconsidering policies and laws that encourage such violence. “Burning someone alive! No, people are not going to forget it anytime soon. We have crossed the limits of narrow-mindedness.”

Dr Ali of Pak Pac, who lives in Dallas, regrets the failure of the Pakistani state in curbing such activities. “When something so horrible happens, something that is also evidence-based, it is difficult to deal with,” he says. “TLP committed such atrocities before too. Then it made a truce. It went back to violence and made another pact with the authorities! How long will this continue?” he asks. This must stop.”

“We are so ashamed! No word can describe our feeling,” says Mr Bashir of PTI, who lives in Virginia. “Americans already have a bad image of Pakistan, and this makes it worse. The only way to deal with it is to give exemplary punishment to the perpetrators.”

Mr Hasnain, the runner from Virginia, says his daughter “showed me the news and asked: ‘What’s happening in Pakistan?’ I said those are foolish people. But she, ‘that’s not an answer. Tell me how they let this happen?’”

“Our state has backed down many times in the face of street power and that sends the wrong message. This must stop now,” says Mr. Hassan, the entrepreneur from Maryland.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

Horror in Sialkot
Editorial

 December 5, 2021 - 

ONCE again, we are reminded how far this nation has descended into the abyss. This time the sickeningly familiar ritual of savage violence was enacted in Sialkot where Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, a Sri Lankan national, was beaten to death on Friday over blasphemy allegations at the factory where he worked as a manager.

The mob then dragged his mangled body out on the road and set it on fire, where individuals on the scene — as if to underscore their utter lack of humanity — took selfies with the burning corpse. Where were law-enforcement personnel who should have protected Mr Diyawadana? How was the situation allowed to escalate to the point it did? What followed the grisly murder was predictable: condemnation by the political leadership, with the government vowing to punish the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law. The army chief too, almost certainly because the victim was a foreign national, denounced “such extrajudicial vigilantism”.

For the same reason perhaps, religious bodies have also shown alacrity where they usually maintain a deafening silence and issued statements to condemn the lynching. Most ironic among them is the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, the ultra-right group that proudly claims as its inspiration a man who committed murder in the name of blasphemy.

It is indeed a day of shame for Pakistan. Having repeatedly vented our bloodlust on our own, this time the extremists amongst us turned on an individual who was a guest in this country. Not surprisingly, however, the official denunciations only touch upon the here and now, the tip of the iceberg. The bitter truth is, on the last day of his life, Mr Diyawadana came face to face with the consequences of the Pakistani state’s decades-long policy of appeasing religious extremists. Even though the violent ultra-right outfits once used for strategic objectives began to be reined in a few years ago, other sectarian groups that were radicalised as part of the same process have since gained new ground. As extremism seeped into the body politic, blasphemy increasingly became weaponised, an expedient tool that could be wielded in a variety of situations: to take over the land of minority communities, to settle personal disputes — even to engineer protests to destabilise a sitting government in 2017.

All it takes now is an allegation of blasphemy and an individual or two to incite a mob to commit murder. Who can forget young Mashal Khan, lynched by his fellow students in 2017, or Shama and Shahzad Masih, burned alive in a brick kiln in 2014? These are but three victims in a long chronology of horror. Each act of lynching, each desecration of a place of worship, each life destroyed as a result is an indictment of a state that has long made cynical use of religion as part of its playbook. We must reverse course before the flames of intolerance devour us as a nation.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

Fahd Husain
Published December 4, 2021

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Islamabad.


NO one is responsible for lynching a Sri Lankan national in Sialkot on Friday. Absolutely no one. That is the lesson we may as well internalise once we are done being shocked and outraged.

Not that this will take too long. We are a resilient nation, as we are so fond of saying. There have been lynchings before — remember Mashal Khan and the two brothers in Sialkot — and we have survived those with our grace and dignity intact, thank you very much. That said, the official machinery’s experience of dealing with shocking incidents will once again keep it in good stead. The SOP files detailing a response have already been dusted off the shelves and are being followed in letter and spirit.

Prime minister’s tweet of shock. Check. Chief mi­­nister’s expression of sadness and ordering of in­­q­ui­­ry. Check. Inspector general police’s vow to arrest the culprits. Check. DC/DPO’s arrival on the scene re­gistered in a ‘timely’ fashion. Check. Cabinet ministers’ random vows/ outrages/ condolences. Check. Official maulana/ ulema/ cleric reminder this is not what our religion teaches us. Check. Usual suspects’ denial of involvement. Check. And check, check, check…,

This is followed by the unofficial reaction. Celeb­r­­i­­ties’ tweets of sadness/ what-have-we-become lam­e­­nt/ tsk tsk-ing. Check. Random politicians’ statements holding the government/ state/ society responsible for the incident. Check. Usual suspects’ finger-pointing at the establishment for mollycoddling hatemongers. Check. Right-wingers blaming left-wingers, middle-wingers and no-wingers for equating lynching with beliefs and institutions instead of looking inwards. Check. Talk shows, columns (including this one) seminars, webinars, Twitter spaces triggering high-decibel noise amou­nting to nothing more than a catharsis whose time has long passed. Check. And check, check, check…,

Read: 'What have we become?' — Activists, celebrities express horror over Sialkot lynching

We are a resilient nation, as we are so fond of saying.

Finally the post-event file is extracted from the drawer and the SOPs implemented like clockwork. Those arrested to be produced in front of cameras and the courts. Check. PM/ CM/ IGP/ ministers’ statement claiming no one will be spared. Check. PM/ CM/ ministers’ media talk lamenting the state of affairs over decades and how it will take them time to steer things in the right direction. Check. PM/ CM/ ministers’ announcement of compensation for the heirs. Check. Speeches in the National Assembly and Senate on random points of orders leading to a whole lot of nothing. Check. Local administration officials transferred/OSD-ed/ reprimanded. Check. General calls for tolerance/ interfaith harmony/ review of hate literature. Check. Candlelit vigil/ walk/ run/ moment-of-silence. Check. And check, check, check.…

Then, just like that, it’s over. And done. And dus­t­­ed. Because, you see, no one is really responsible. Or everyone is. And when everyone is, no one really is.

Not the prime minister. Because, after all, he can’t be expected to ensure personally that lynchings don’t happen. He’s got bigger things on his plate/ other fish to fry/ important matters to attend to/ take care of the big picture. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not the chief minister. That’s why he has a police force. And a Pakistan Administrative Service force. And all other forces/ departments/ organisations/personnel/ MNAs/ MPAs/ local grandees who are supposed to keep an eye on the situation on the ground and pre-empt such tragedies from happening. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not the IGP. Because you know, why else does he have his SSP/ SP/ ASP/ DSP/ SHO/ ASI on the ground? Precisely. Sitting far away in the provincial capital, he can’t really stop crowds from lynching people now, can he? What he can do is to order inquiry/ scold subordinates/ transfer/ reprimand/ demote/ suspend. And he does that as responsibly as he can. So why point the finger at him? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not the cabinet/ ruling party/ government. Because you see, they have only been in power for three years and therefore really cannot be expected to stop lynchings that are — as per logic — a by-product of hate seeded into the soil over decades. So the cabinet/ ruling party/ government will do what it can do: condemn/ bemoan/ lament/ blame/ politicise/ spin/ move on. After all, they can’t be held responsible for everything that happens in Pakistan because — as we all know — they have only been in power for a measly three years. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Not the establishment. Never. What have they got to do with the lynching? There they are in their barracks, minding their own business far far away from problems that have little to do with their mandate as the guardians of the borders. Previous dictators res­p­­­onsible? Perhaps but that was a long time ago. Nur­turing extremist groups and their ideologies? That was in the past and the past is, as they say, another country. So they have no skin in the game. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Usual suspects/ extremist ideology peddlers/ madras­­sahs. Wrong again. Because they teach tolerance/ love/ peace/ righteousness. Their job is to educate society why such lynchings are against all teachings. They will be the loudest to condemn and shall remind everyone again and again and again that they are, and have always been, part of the solution and not part of the problem. And what choice do we have? Of course, to believe them. Not to blame them. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Read: Acts of faith — Why people get killed over blasphemy in Pakistan

And so we come a full circle. A little bit of theoretical/ rhetorical/ oratorical blame for everyone so that there is real blame for none. We are who we are and someone else at some other time for some different reason in some distinctive situation in some particular context will try find an answer to the riddle of lynchings/ intolerance/ hate/ bigotry. A time will come for this to happen, but that time is not now and that place is not this one.

For this place, there are set ways of doing things. Those things are included in checklists and shall indeed — never fear — will be done tomorrow/ day after/ next week/ next month. And while they are being done, state/ government/ ruling party/ other parties/ religious organisations/ civil society/ all of us will pretend we have learnt our lessons after having our sensibilities ravaged once again, and that this was indeed the last incident of lynching/ mob murder/ shocking violence/ barbarism. This will make us feel slightly less bad/ slightly more good/ marginally less guilty.

And so shall end the story that begins with us asking ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all. We lie. The mirror does not.

Twitter: @fahdhusain
Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2021

Twitter shuts down ‘propaganda accounts’ in six countries

AFP

  Published December 3, 2021

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A photo of Twitter's application on a cellphone. — AP/File

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter said on Thursday it had shut down nearly 3,500 accounts that were posting pro-government propaganda in six countries, including China and Russia.

The vast majority of the accounts were part of a network that “amplified Chinese Communist Party narratives related to the treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang”, Twitter said in a statement.

China faces accusations of human rights violations against the ethnic minority in the northwestern province.

Aside from 2,048 accounts linked to the pro-Beijing campaign, Twitter also shut down 112 accounts connected to a company named Changyu Culture, linked to Xinjiang’s regional government.

The move came a day after Facebook’s parent company Meta said it had shut down more than 500 accounts that were part of a China-linked influence campaign relating to Covid-19.

The accounts promoted claims from a reportedly fictitious Swiss biologist, Wilson Edwards, that the United States was interfering in efforts to identify the origins of the coronavirus.

Both Twitter and Facebook are banned in China, but Beijing frequently uses both US social networks to promote its positions on the international stage.

Twitter also shuttered 16 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company labelled a “troll farm” by critics, which runs pro-government online influence campaigns.

“The operation relied on a mix of inauthentic and real accounts to introduce a pro-Russia viewpoint into Central African political discourse,” Twitter said.

Russia has wielded increasing influence in the Central African Republic since 2018 when it sent a large contingent of “instructors” to train the army.

“We also removed a network of 50 accounts that attacked the civilian Libyan government and actors that support it, while voicing significant support for Russia’s geopolitical position in Libya and Syria,” Twitter added.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2021

PAKISTAN POLITICAL PERSECUTION

Military court convicts rights activist of espionage

Baqir Sajjad Syed Published December 5, 2021 - 

This file photo shows rights and political activist Idris Khattak. — DawnNewsTV/File

ISLAMABAD: Rights and political activist Idris Khattak has been convicted of espionage and sentenced to 14 years rigorous imprisonment, a security source disclosed on Saturday.

“Khattak was found guilty of espionage and leaking of sensitive information by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM). He was handed down 14-year rigorous jail term,” the source said while talking to Dawn.

The verdict was pronounced this week after the trial concluded in Jhelum.

The source said he was tried under Pakistan Army Act and Official Secrets Act, 1923. He was accused of providing sensitive information to a foreign intelligence agency.

Defending his court martial, the source said that any individual accused of espionage, whether or not he is a serviceman, can be tried by a FGCM.

Khattak has reportedly been shifted to Jhelum district jail for serving the sentence.

AI urges authorities to give Idris access to lawyers, produce him before a civilian court

The source said he could appeal before the appellate tribunal and subsequently before the army chief.

Khattak remained associated with Amnesty International and had investigated enforced disappearances in erstwhile tribal areas and Balochistan.

He was travelling from Islamabad to Peshawar on November 13, 2019 when he was picked by an intelligence agency near Swabi interchange. After nearly six months of public campaign by his family and filing of a habeas corpus petition at the Peshawar High Court, the defence ministry on June 16, 2020 admitted that he was in military’s custody and had been charged with treason under the Official Secrets Act.

Khattak’s brother later filed a petition with the Peshawar High Court seeking an end to his trial by the military court. The high court, however, on Jan 28, 2021 rejected the appeal.

Meanwhile, three retired military officers were given varying jail sentences by another FGCM in Rawalpindi.

According to the security source, Lt Col (retd) Faiz Rasool was given 14 years rigorous imprisonment, Lt Col (retd) Akmal 10 years rigorous imprisonment, and Maj (retd) Saifuddin 12 years rigorous imprisonment.

All three officers were also convicted of espionage and leaking sensitive information.

The source said all the three were retired at the time of the commissioning of crime.

Amnesty International

In a reaction to Khattak’s sentencing, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director Thyagi Ruwanpathirana said: “Idris Khattak’s family and lawyer are being kept in the dark by the Pakistani authorities about the exact status of his case and reported conviction, violating the right to fair trial and due process and making it impossible for them to plan any legal recourse.”

“If his conviction is confirmed, it will be the culmination of a shameful two-year process that has been unjust from start to finish,” the AI official said.

Few details about the case against him had been disclosed, the official said, while according to his lawyer, the proceedings were ‘deeply flawed’.

AI asked Pakistan’s authorities to provide details of the case to the family, give him access to lawyers, and produce him before a civilian court for deciding about lawfulness of his arrest and detention.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

PAKISTAN

Gwadar’s women
Maryam Zia Baloch

Published December 5, 2021 - 

The writer is a research analyst at the World Bank and a Fulbright alumna.

WHAT happened in Gwadar earlier this week was surprising for everyone in the country. Hundreds of women participated in the rally ‘Give Rights to Gwadar’, led by Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). Never before have Baloch women come out in such huge numbers for any public movement or political party, anywhere in Balochistan. True, Baloch women have been at the forefront of the struggle for the recovery of Baloch missing persons since the last 10 years.

 But this was the first time that so many women stepped out of their homes to protest against the lack of basic necessities, including water and electricity in Gwadar, and to demand a ban on illegal trawling and the easing of the border trade with Iran.

Listening to the women addressing the crowd, one would not have been able to tell that they were out for the first time. They were eloquent, articulate and enraged about the problems that Gwadar residents are facing. They all knew who to address and what to ask for. Their voice did not shake even once, nor were they afraid to call out the Balochistan chief minister or Gwadar’s representatives in the national and provincial assemblies. A young girl spoke in English in an effort to convey her demands to Gwadar representative Senator Kahuda Babar in Islamabad, thinking that he might understand her better in English in case he had forgotten Balochi.

They were eloquent, articulate and enraged.

The women’s anger towards senators, MNAs, MPAs and the chief minister is legitimate. In the process of bringing in big development projects and mega infrastructure, as well as building cricket stadiums, the basic needs of Gwadar’s people have been ignored. Since the inception of CPEC, Gwadar has been in the limelight. The dream of the centre and the provincial government is to make Gwadar a future Singapore or Dubai. Unfortunately, as the maulana said, crystal meth is more readily available in this future Singapore than a Panadol in its hospitals.

Read: Why Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman has become such a prominent leader for residents of Gwadar

Gwadar residents are sick of the government’s fake promises of development, changed lives and better facilities. Fishermen are no longer allowed to fish freely. Illegal foreign trawlers are parked at three points in the sea: Haft-Talar in Pasni, Jazeera in Ormara and Kalmat between Pasni and Ormara. They see these trawlers catching fish, and even fish eggs, with better nets than their own. Besides endangering marine life, it threatens their centuries-old source of livelihood. But the government hasn’t done enough to remove their apprehensions. Finally, they have found a voice for themselves in the form of the JI maulana who himself comes from a fishing family and understands the woes of the fisherfolk.

Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman has made his protest inclusive by mobilising all ordinary people — men, women and children — across Makran Division. There seems to be vast support for the protest sit-in and a large crowd has gathered on Marine Drive since Nov 15. He understands the economic and social threat to the people of Gwadar well. That’s why he had also organised a rally where protesters dressed in shrouds to highlight that it is a matter of life and death for the people. A children’s rally further emphasised how everyone is affected by the unemployment crisis due to illegal trawling and the token system at the Pakistan-Iran border. The women’s rally was well organised, and enough space was given to the speakers on stage to air their grievances.

Women singing Habib Jalib’s Dastoor, and raising slogans against the current government and officials for harassing people at security check posts displayed enormous courage. Nobody could tell from their powerful speeches that they live within four walls, and had never been to a protest before. Not only did they know all the slogans that are raised in protests in urban Pakistan, they were also keen to not give up on their fundamental rights. Boldly, they challenged the provincial government on its recent black law banning protests on Balochistan’s highways. Rather than listening to the pressing demands of Gwadar’s people, the government has come up with a ridiculous and unconstitutional order to suppress the voice of the most marginalised segments.

The ongoing protest comprises genuine basic demands which the government can fulfil if it cares enough about the population. The main ones are to curb illegal trawling, remove security check posts, ease restrictions on the border trade with Iran by ending the token system, and provide basic facilities such as water, electricity, health and education. I would say that for such rudimentary demands, the people of a city that is believed to be a potential game changer for the entire country shouldn’t have to protest for two consecutive weeks. Now that the whole of Gwadar, especially its women, are determined to get their basic rights via this sit-in, the government must act immediately to fulfil their wishes.

Twitter: @MerryBaloch
Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2021

PAKISTAN
WHEN THE STUDENTS MARCH
Xari Jalil

Published December 5, 2021 

A sea of red flags can be seen at the Students’ Solidarity March in Lahore | M Arif/White Star

Students in 11 cities took to the streets during last week’s Students’ Solidarity March. After months of planning and organising, they were finally able to come together and voice their concerns. The fiery students have shouted these slogans before. But is anyone listening?

Asea of red flows along Lahore’s Mall Road. Red flags bob along with the marchers who have adorned themselves in red hats, shirts or coats. They stand out beautifully against the smog-ridden grey of the city’s overcast horizon, as if signifying their tumultuous anger against the bleak backdrop of the country’s situation.

One of the marchers is holding a placard. He stops on the side and grins for a photograph.

“Bhagat ki raah humari hai, Jang humari jaari hai [Bhagat’s path is ours, Our struggle continues],” his yellow placard says, remembering the revolutionary Bhagat Singh.

The students are rallying for the restoration of student unions this year, as they did last year. But they have other demands too.

“Free Ali Wazir,” some placards read. (The incarcerated MNA and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader was granted bail in at least one case days after the march).

“Sohail Baloch aur Faseeh Baloch ko baazyaab karo [Recover Sohail Baloch and Faseeh Baloch],” other placards read, referring to the two Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) activists who were abducted a few weeks ago and are still missing. Despite promises by the government, they have not yet returned home. As a result, educational activities at Balochistan University have been suspended, yet again.

The students who have come out for the Students’ Solidarity March are angry and full of verve. They are ready to take on the world today, chanting slogans for their freedom and rights. This is their day and they won’t be pushed around by anybody.

The road to this day has been long and their frustrations have been mounting.

***



In August 2021 a study circle was disrupted at Punjab University (PU), a hub of student politics. The Taliban had recently taken over Afghanistan and the Progressive Students’ Collective (PSC), an offshoot of the Haqooq-i-Khalq Movement (HKM), had decided to hold a discussion on issues of human rights violations there.

But the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, a student group of the Jamaat-i-Islami, apparently did not like the idea, and a clash broke out. Rae Ali Aftab, the general secretary of the PSC was beaten up badly. He claims he was being dogged by the Jamiat ever since they learnt of the study circle.

Later, PSC members claimed that the Jamiat attacked them, but the religio-political party denied PSC’s version of events.

“The discussion was about the Taliban takeover of Kabul, and the Jamiat has been trying to force us to stop,” Aftab says, looking back at the incident. The clash apparently intensified because the PSC students stood their ground. Aftab claims that he and his friends were charged with sticks and he was left with several bruises all over his body.

A few days after the clash, members of the Pashtun Education Development Movement (PEDM) and PSC held a rally outside the Punjab Assembly. They alleged that the university management took no action against the students who had disrupted the study circle and physically intimidated student activists.

Tensions have been rising on campuses, with some students claiming they have been ‘picked up’ and intimidation tactics have been used against them to keep them from protesting and taking part in student politics.


The last few years have not been kind to students. From the passing of the controversial Single National Curriculum to the abductions of students, and from fee hikes to examination problems, students have been growing more and more restless.

In March 2021, students belonging to the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) region, who were studying at the Islamia University Bahawalpur, staged a sit-in outside the Punjab Governor House for around a week, demanding restoration of students’ scholarships and quotas. After military operations in the region destroyed the education infrastructure there, the Punjab government under Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had promised reserved seats with quotas and scholarships for students from ex-Fata in all the public sector universities of Punjab. And while the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) promised to double these seats before they took office, when they came into power, the seats were cancelled altogether, because of “austerity measures”. The matter remains unresolved.

The above are just two incidents from this year alone. The last few years have not been kind to students. From the passing of the controversial Single National Curriculum to the abductions of students, and from fee hikes to examination problems, students have been growing more and more restless. Yet, the students say, the government’s response has been that of indifference.

On top of everything, religio-political groups on campuses have been getting more active and are showing more and more radical traits.

Now, after three previous marches, this year too, droves of students took to the streets to make their demands known. Getting them out on the streets was no easy task. It has taken dedicated work and organising on the ground.

MOBILISATION

Women wearing masks chant slogans at the march | M Arif/White Star


After this year’s march, held on November 26, many members of the PSC — the most prominent group in attendance and the organisers of the march — considered it a huge success. In Lahore, hundreds of young people, supported by civil society, lawyers and human rights activists, had rallied together to Charing Cross (Punjab Assembly).

“We have just recently inducted new members — around 700 of them — and from this one can just see the scale of the march,” says Muhammad Zubair Siddique, an activist and student at the National University of Modern Languages in Lahore. “We marched in 11 cities, including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, D.I. Khan and Multan,” he proudly shares.

Dr Alia Haider, a prominent member of PSC’s mother party, the Huqooq-e-Khalq Movement (HKM), and a doctor who does volunteer work, says that students conduct study circles all year but, a couple of months before the march, their frequency increased to two to three study circles in a week. “Students from PU went to different institutions to talk to students,” Dr Haider says.

She says that students from HKM also went to working class areas to mobilise students. “Our motto is ‘Aurat, mazdoor, talaba, kisaan [women, labourers, students, farmers],’” she tells Eos. HKM has had drives and campaigns in areas such as Chungi Amar Sadhu and engaged families of factory workers there. “There are [only a few organisations] who talk about the issues faced by students or working class individuals,” Dr Haider says.

The connections these activists make are not just for the march. “They are there with us all year round,” she says.

This year’s march was the fourth Students’ Solidarity March. The first one was in 2018. The second took place in 2019, and was the biggest march so far, with students taking to the streets in 50 cities. The 2020 march was smaller, partly because of the Covid-19 threat, but still managed to cause a stir when activist Ammar Ali Jan and some others were almost arrested by the police for supposedly being a “potential danger to public peace, [and the] law and order situation.”

But even after three years, organising the march continues to be an uphill task every year. This year was no different. In fact, some students say there were added challenges in the lead-up to the march, which resulted in a comparatively lower number of students marching.

THE CHALLENGES OF COMING TOGETHER

PU students hold a study circle

Even as the Covid threat seemed relatively smaller this year, some felt the organisers were still unable to bring back the kind of numbers they had seen before. Aiman* a student who marched back in 2019 and was back this year too, felt disappointed this year.

“In the 2019 march there were many more students, actual students, who came,” she says. “This time, there were very few genuine students. Most of the people were those who are [no longer at] educational institutions, so these issues are not really their issues.”

As the march drew closer, Aiman could already see the organisers getting complacent, she says, adding that the organisers are divided into different groups, and it is difficult to bring them all together under one umbrella.

While not everyone agrees with Aiman’s assessment, they acknowledge that organising a march of this magnitude is challenging.

Salman Sikandar, another student activist, says that the biggest challenge during mobilisation was having a presence on social media — an area student activists have excelled at in the past. But while they may have lagged behind on that front this year, they were much more active on the ground, Sikandar says.

“We went inside metro buses and told students about the march,” he says. “We saw [students] sitting around in market places such as Anarkali, at Wahdat Road, at cafes inside Barkat market and even inside hostels, and then we went to talk to them,” he says, adding that this is why there were over a thousand students at the march in Lahore, by his estimation.

Sikandar says that, in the pre-Covid march in 2019, the gathering wasn’t completely organic. There was hype on social media, with content going viral and even trolls unintentionally helping spread the message. Then there was the novelty value. The media was more interested and calling the student activists. All this helped them get bigger numbers at the march.


Mahnoor believes that students must be decision-makers about their own issues. She proposes electing student representatives for the harassment committees. She also questions why the policy states that there should be at least one female on the committee. “Why one?” she asks.

Besides, when the students marched in 2019, Sikandar points out, there was a historic student protest happening in India as well. “We stood up in solidarity for them, and they for us. This was a huge reason.”

But while the media and the social media ‘trolls’ may have moved on, the students have continued the work on the ground. Sikandar says that this year too, students from the Pukhtoon Students Federation, the Peoples Students Federation, the Revolutionary Students’ Front, and the Jammu and Kashmir National Front, all took part in the march.

But having said all that, Sikandar does allude to disagreements within the organisers. “Sadly the left wing tendencies are that they do not support each other,” the student says. “We received a video of [former Prime Minister] Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, saying that he supported the march, but our own people kept condemning it.”

Sikandar also says that one criticism they hear is that the march is dominated by Punjab, especially Lahore. This isn’t necessarily untrue, he acknowledges, and he would completely understand if the criticism were coming from Baloch students. “But if I hear someone in Islamabad saying this, it is a bit much,” he says.

These disagreements are a part of student politics. And while the marchers may not see eye to eye on all matters, they were clear on why they were marching.

STUDENT UNIONS

A student activist spreads the word about the march at a cafe

If these students remember one thing about former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s rule, it is that, in 2008, he stood up in the National Assembly and promised to reinstate student unions. But Gilani did not stay in power for long, having been slapped with corruption charges. All the other successive governments also promised to restore the unions. But, to this day, nothing has happened.

Banned back in the 1980s under Gen Ziaul Haq, student unions have remained defunct. In the meantime, wings of national political parties made their way into educational institutions, especially public colleges and universities, changing the concept of student politics into a ‘militant’ manifestation of these mainstream political parties. Violence on campus increased drastically as a result.

“The violence increased after the 1984 ban,” says Qaiser Javed, the President of the PSC. “Yes, there was violence, but why was there a blanket ban on unions? There is violence during the elections too, but no one says they should be banned.”

Javed says that the governments are actually scared of a new leadership emerging, that may be better than their politicians. He believes that they are scared of the power that students wield. “But unions are the need of the day,” he says, repeating a sentiment that was widely held at the march. “When the PML-N [Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz] came to power they did not restore the unions. Neither did the PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party] and nor did PTI.

“Imran Khan paints an image that he is all about human development and not infrastructure,” Javed says. Still in 2019, a 45 percent cut was imposed on the higher education budget and universities were told to generate their own budgets. “In the beginning we had hoped that something new would come out of the current government’s rule, but there is absolutely nothing that we, as the youth, can benefit from,” he adds.

“They were scared about the 1968 movement, when students made Ayub step down,” says Javed. “Then in 1988, Benazir Bhutto restored [student unions], but only for a short while. Now universities take an affidavit at admission that you will not take part in political activity. But even if you sit on campus it’s political. There is nothing that is apolitical. And our constitution allows us basic rights, such as freedom of assembly, or speech and expression.”

Javed says that after the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) ‘fiasco’, the government has no business telling students not to demand their rights.

Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari herself tweeted in support of the student march. She said that being someone who has taught for over 16 years, she has always supported student unions and maintained that the onus is on university authorities to ensure that the unions function according to the rules that have been laid out.

But students who feel like their demands fall on deaf ears are not convinced by the tweets. “If she supports us so much, then why are we being treated like this by the government?” asks a student, referring to what they see as indifference from the government on students’ issues.

OTHER DEMANDS

A volunteer hands out flyers to students

Another major demand besides the restoration of student unions, is that the Higher Education Council’s (HEC) law on forming harassment committees must be implemented more strictly and female students must be represented on the committees. The activists also asked that hostel students be supported with medical expenses, as the country continues battling Covid-19 and dengue. They also demanded that students be given concessions on transportation, which seems to be getting more expensive every day.

Finally, the students demanded that campuses in Sindh and Balochistan should be demilitarised. And abducted students must be released at once.

The students have marched with these demands earlier as well, but with little success.

“The government is not taking any of our demands and complaints seriously,” says student activist Siddique, lamenting the fact that the education budget is very limited.

“The government is not really interested in improving the education sector,” he says. Siddique points out that the fee hikes continue. And claims that even the limited seats given on the basis of provinces are given out because of nepotism, instead of merit.

He also believes that there is little interest in creating safer campuses where women would not get harassed. The harassers, especially if they are members of the faculty, appear to have impunity and no action is taken against them, he says.

HARASSMENT ON CAMPUS

A student activist speaks to other students in the lead-up to the march


Bushra Mahnoor, who is part of the Feminist Collective, has been fighting for the implementation of the 2018 HEC policy on forming anti-harassment committees at universities.

The issue has continued to persist and even some of the country’s biggest universities have had cases that became national talking points because of their mishandling.

Mahnoor points out that while the policy says that all educational institutions must make these committees, it does not highlight what the consequences would be for not following through.

“Unfortunately, the inquiry committee also has no representation of students,” she says, adding that if there were student representation, maybe the issues would be tackled better. “Teachers also don’t want to get involved, especially if a complaint against a colleague has come,” she points out.

Mahnoor believes that students must be decision-makers about their own issues. She proposes electing student representatives for the harassment committees. She also questions why the policy states that there should be at least one female on the committee. “Why one?” she asks. “It’s 2021, for God’s sake.”

Information regarding who should be called or contacted to report harassment should be very clearly communicated to everyone on campus, the students say. While some universities have taken the initiative to do this, most have lagged behind. Fatima* faced the consequences of this first hand.

When a boy passed sexual comments about Fatima, she did not know where to go and who to contact. She went to a senior of hers and showed her a video of how lewd the boy had been with her. This would happen in front of everyone and even the guard turned a blind eye to the harassment and ‘catcalling’, enabling the boy’s behaviour.

“I had no idea who to turn to,” she says. When she finally did and made a complaint, it bore no results and the boy was let off scot-free.

Dr Alia Haider says that the harassment issue is one big reason why parents do not send their girls to study. She refers to the case of Nimrita Amarta Maher Chandani, where it was found that the young woman had been sexually assaulted before she was murdered in her hostel in Larkana.

“There are many girls who don’t bother complaining or, even if they do, they are not heard,” Dr Haider says.

Mahnoor says that women are kept so apolitical by their families that, when they are approached to join in for a cause, they are hesitant. They are scared the college administration will throw them out. It could happen too, the way things are going, she says.

THE WAY FORWARD

Farooq Tariq, a senior labour leader says that campuses are reflections of society. They are not isolated bubbles. If it’s happening on campus, it’s happening outside in society too.

“The government is scared of students being allied,” he says. “They think that they can control the institutions better instead of organised students.” Tariq points out that if students are allowed to unionise, then demands will come forward. A strong believer in the power of the students, he says that those in power will have to make a budget, arrange better transport and give concessions. “And they don’t want this,” he tells Eos.

When Tariq was elected a president in PU, he remembers how powerful and important he felt. “We used to have a vibrant and intellectual atmosphere, with politics, discussions, programmes and critical thinking,” he says. “We had decision-making power. Today it’s all about anti-intellectualism.”

In order to make a change, we have to have a nationwide movement which can help with the revamping of the system, Tariq says. “Because, simply put, today students have had enough.”

The Students’ Solidarity March may be a start of such a movement. These politically-charged young men and women are only getting started.

*Name has been changed to protect identity

The writer is a journalist who reports on various issues from human rights to society and art. She tweets @xarijalil

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 5th, 2021