Over 70 Rights Groups Denounce Racially Motivated Texas Shooting

October 26, 2022

Hon. Merrick Garland                
Attorney General                
Department of Justice                
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW        
Washington, DC 20530    

Hon. Alejandro Mayorkas            
Secretary                     
U.S. Department of Homeland Security        
3801 Nebraska Avenue, NW            
Washington, DC 20016

Dear Attorney General Garland and Secretary Mayorkas,

Last month, news outlets reported the horrific shooting of a group of migrants stopping for water in Sierra Blanca, south of El Paso, Texas. Two brothers, Michael and Mark Sheppard, were charged with shooting and killing Jesús Iván Sepúlveda and critically wounding Brenda Berenice Casias Carrillo.[i] Mr. Sepúlveda’s tragic death left a 6-month-old baby and 3-year-old child fatherless.[ii]

 Letter on Deadly Shooting of Migrants in Texas

Mr. Sepúlveda, Ms. Casias Carrillo, and other surviving witnesses were preyed upon when trying to tend to their bodies on an arduous journey to find safety in this country. They were met with bullets, insults, and hatred. Their assailants defended their behavior by claiming they were hunting wild animals — a statement that further betrays the dehumanizing rhetoric and treatment in effect.

There is already troubling evidence that at least one of the Sheppard brothers may have harbored racial animus that particularly targeted noncitizens. Michael Sheppard is the former warden at the West Texas Detention Facility, a privately owned jail that detained noncitizens and subjected them to verbal and physical abuse.[iii] A 2018 report[iv] includes disturbing accounts of anti-immigrant violence and racial slurs commonly used within that facility, including one where Michael Sheppard repeatedly kicked a handcuffed person in solitary confinement while warden of the facility.[v] Mark Sheppard’s former employer is the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office — the same agency currently investigating the deadly shooting — raising the risk of bias in the investigation.

Those facts alone would suffice to provoke our collective outrage and grief. This week, the Associated Press reported that most of the witnesses have been detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Marshall Service (USMS) custody, further aggravating the trauma and harm they have survived and impeding their ability to assist the ongoing investigation of these shootings.[vi] Thanks to their attorneys’ advocacy, we understand these witnesses to now be released. However, we are dismayed by the initial response from your agencies. This response is inconsistent with ICE’s own directive on the treatment of survivors[vii] and implicitly sanctions the racially-motivated violence that continues to plague this country and disparately harm immigrants of color.

This racist violence is not an isolated incident, but is part of a dangerous trend. Bigoted groups and individuals are increasingly using violence to accomplish their political aims, undermining the right of entire communities of color to exist and live with dignity. A mere three years after the racially motivated mass shooting in neighboring El Paso, these bigoted murders require urgent action.

We respectfully request that you take the following steps with the utmost urgency:

1. Suspend any enforcement measures, including criminal prosecution or the removal or expulsion of these individuals;
2. Refrain from prosecuting any survivors and witnesses in USMS custody and ensure that all survivors have prompt access to medical and mental health care from a safe location in the United States;
3. Launch a federal investigation into these shootings to provide independent oversight and accountability given the horrors inflicted on Mr. Sepúlveda, Ms. Casias Carrillo, and other surviving witnesses;
4. Review and investigate white supremacist rhetoric and behavior within existing detention facilities, federal immigration personnel, contractors, and collaborating law enforcement agencies;[viii]
5. Direct ICE, USMS, Customs and Border Protection, and collaborating law enforcement agencies to issue formal guidelines for agents prohibiting association, active participation, and support for white nationalist, unauthorized paramilitary, and other extremist groups, consistent with the First Amendment, to enhance transparency and accountability and ensure appropriate discipline. Develop and enforce clear policies to investigate and take disciplinary action in response to violations.

We further urge you to consider the ways in which U.S. government policies and actions that dehumanize Black, Brown and Indigenous migrants, such as the incarceration of immigrants for civil proceedings and summary expulsions at the border, allow white supremacy to thrive and give way to violence.

It is not too late for you to honor and protect the lives of these survivors and ensure that grieving families do not face further trauma inherent to incarceration and removal. Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality
African American Ministers In Action
Afghan Coalition
African Communities Together
African Human Rights Coalition
Al Otro Lado
Alianza Americas
America’s Voice
American Gateways
American Immigration Council
American Immigration Lawyers Association
Americans for Immigrant Justice
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Anti-Defamation League
ASISTA Immigration Assistance
Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP)
Bellevue Program for Survivors of Torture
The Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)
Border Network for Human Rights
El Calvario Immigrant Advocacy Center
Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Center for Victims of Torture
Church World Service
Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center
Cleveland Jobs with Justice
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
Community Asylum Seekers Project
Communities United for Status & Protection (CUSP)
Detention Watch Network
Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services, Inc.
Doctors for Camp Closure
DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving
Freedom for Immigrants (FFI)
Haitian Bridge Alliance
HIAS
Hispanic Federation
Human Rights First
Immigration Center for Women and Children
Immigrant Defenders Law Center
Immigration Equality
Innovation Law Lab
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti
Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración (IMUMI)
Japanese American Citizens League
Jewish Activists for Immigration Justice of Western MA
Justice in Motion
Legal Aid Justice Center
Mariposa Legal, program of COMMON Foundation
Minnesota Freedom Fund
National Council of Jewish Women
National Immigrant Justice Center
National Immigration Law Center
National Immigration Project (NIPNLG)
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
New Mexico Immigrant Law Center
Next 100
Oasis Legal Services
Quixote Center
La Raza Community Resource Center
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
Southern Border Communities Coalition
Southern Poverty Law Center
Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice
Tahirih Justice Center
UndocuBlack Network
UnidosUS
United We Dream
Washington Office on Latin America
Western States Center
Witness at the Border
Women’s Refugee Commission
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights 

[i] Paul Weber, Authorities: Texas man shoots 2 migrants near Mexico border, AP News (Sept. 30, 2022), https://apnews.com/article/mexico-shootings-texas-arrests-immigration-b663126e2546e9827f5548b9e93152a9.

[ii] AP News, Family of Mexican migrant slain in West Texas seek answers (Oct. 5, 2022), https://apnews.com/article/mexico-shootings-austin-texas-immigration-ab86973d076e6a9b765dee3898f2895f.

[iii] Acacia Coronado, Migrant-death suspect ran detention center accused of abuse, AP News (Oct. 1, 2022), https://apnews.com/article/mexico-shootings-texas-immigration-el-paso-5b6d1ec4c218fb24f38f22920753bb58.  

[iv] University of Texas and Texas A&M Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, RAICES, “I was treated like an animal” Abuses Against African Detainees at the West Texas Detention Facility (March 22, 2018),  https://law.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/03/2018-03-IC-WTDF-Report.pdf.  

[v] Ryan Devereaux, Texas Jail Warden Charged With Killing Migrant Was Previously Accused of Serious Abuses, The Intercept (Sept. 29, 2022), https://theintercept.com/2022/09/29/ice-mike-sheppard-abuses/.

[vi] Associated Press, Migrants who survived shooting in West Texas have been detained for weeks by immigration officials (Oct. 19, 2022),  https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/migrants-survived-shooting-west-texas-detained-weeks-immigration-offic-rcna52996.

[vii] ICE Directive 11005.3: Using a Victim-Centered Approach with Noncitizen Crime Victims (Aug. 10, 2021), https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2021/11005.3.pdf.

[viii] The previous DHS review of extremism in the ranks was inadequate. See Geneva Sands, Report finds ‘significant gaps’ in DHS’ ability to detect violent extremism in its ranks, CNN (Mar. 11, 2022), https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/11/politics/dhs-internal-report-domestic-violent-extremism/index.html.

Protests break out in Tibetan capital against China’s strict Covid restrictions

Tibetans take to Lhasa streets in first demonstrations since 

2008 Tibetan Uprising.

By RFA Tibetan
2022.10.26

In this combo of image grabs from citizen videos taken Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, residents protest in a street in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, China. A rare protest broke out in at least two locations in Lhasa, angry over a harsh COVID-19 lockdown in the city, sources in Tibet told RFA Tibetan Service.

 Credit: Citizen video

Angry residents in the Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa took to the streets on Wednesday to protest the harsh COVID-19 lockdown that Chinese authorities have imposed on them for more than two months, Radio Free Asia has learned.

They were the first protests in the city since the 2008 Tibetan Uprising, a series of demonstrations against the Chinese government’s treatment of the ethnic minority group. Chinese police and military forces crushed that uprising, killing dozens.

Videos obtained by RFA show scores of protesters on the streets. A daytime video shows people mostly standing or milling about, with officials in white protective suits standing nearby. In two nighttime videos, crowds and cars block a large street and the crowd surges forward while raising their voices. 

Protesters can be heard speaking both in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese in the videos, but it's hard to decipher what they were saying.

Sources informed RFA’s Tibetan Service that the protesters warned Chinese officials that they would "set off a fire" if they refused to lift Covid lockdown restrictions, enacted under Beijing’s Zero-Covid Policy. 

The protesters did not specify what they meant exactly, but they might have alluded to self-immolations, more than 150 of which have happened since 2009.

Based on street signs and restaurant names that RFA located on maps, the protesters appeared to be on the street in the “Chakrong” area, in Lhasa’s Chéngguān district in the eastern part of the city, as well as in the Payi area of the city.

One source also told RFA that Tibetans in Lhasa fear that scuffles between civilians and Chinese police could turn violent.

The lockdown in Lhasa began in early August as COVID numbers there and throughout China continued to climb. 

Lhasa residents have said on social media that the lockdown order came without enough time to prepare, leaving some residents short on food, and making it difficult for those infected with the virus to find adequate treatment.

RFA reported late last month that a source inside Tibet confirmed reports on social media that Tibetans in Lhasa were jumping from buildings.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago, and Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and thousands of his followers later fled into exile in India and other countries around the world following a failed 1959 national uprising against China’s rule.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on the region, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of cultural and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment and extrajudicial killings.

Tibetans are not alone in suffering particularly harsh Chinese zero-COVID lockdowns and other restrictions. 

RFA reported last month that at least 22 people died of starvation or lack of medical attention due to China’s COVID lockdown policies in the northern Xinjiang city of Ghulja.

Videos posted by desperate Uyghurs on Chinese social media platforms—and quickly deleted by government censors—show local people under strict zero-COVID lockdowns struggling to access food and medical care, with some saying family members had starved to death.

Translated by Tashi Wangchuk. Written in English by Eugene Whong.

CAMBODIA

Hun Sen threatens to dissolve Candlelight Party over connection to Sam Rainsy

Trigger appears to be the opposition leader’s comments about the king.

By RFA Khmer
2022.10.26

Supporters of the Candlelight Party take part in a rally on the last day of campaigning for the commune elections in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 3, 2022.

 AFP

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday threatened to dissolve the opposition Candlelight Party if it does not clarify its stand on alleged insulting comments about King Norodom Sihamoni by exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

Sam Rainsy, co-founder of the now banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, fled to France in 2015 to avoid arrest for various charges.

On Monday, he posted a comment on Facebook  that in 2005, Hun Sen forced the king to support a “treasonous act” – a reference to signing a border treaty with Vietnam – otherwise he would abolish monarchy. Sam Rainsy also blamed Hun Sen for using the king to shield his dictatorship.

“The king today has no national conscience, not even a little,” Sam Rainsy said in the video. “After Hun Sen, the king of Cambodia betrayed the nation, because we supplemented others, betrayed the nation completely, because we cut off Khmer territory to foreigners.”

On Wedneday, Hun Sen responded by demanding the Candlelight Party make its stance on Sam Rainsy clear.

“Is Sam Rainsy right or wrong? I want the Candlelight Party to clarify its stand on Sam Rainsy’s statement claiming the King has no conscience. The party’s leaders need to clarify before our compatriots,” Hun Sen told a crowd at a public gathering in Kampong Chhnang province.

Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades, also urged party activists to join his ruling party, saying the Candlelight Party is at risk of being dissolved. 

In 2017, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP, a move that allowed Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to capture every seat in the National Assembly in 2018 general elections.

“It isn’t a small story, and [it’s] not a joke,” Hun Sen said. “The Candlelight Party members must immediately defect to avoid any problem [because Sam Rainsy’s supporters in the party] want to topple the government and monarchy.”

On Tuesday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Justice alleged that Sam Rainsy had seriously insulted the king and ordered Phnom Penh Municipal Court to take immediate and strict legal action against him, though he has been sentenced to life in prison and permanently barred from engaging in politics.

Hun Sen recently tried to convince party activists to condemn Sam Rainsy for supposedly insulting the king, calling on party vice presidents Thach Setha and Son Chhay to issue a statement.

The prime minister also said he learned of a phone conversation between CNRP co-vice president Eng Chhai Eang and Candlelight Party officials about setting up the party’s network in Ratanakiri province. The prime minister told the crowd that political parties can’t work with “convicts” in accordance with the law. 

“With this, I want to tell you [the Candlelight Party] that you are facing any issue for yourself, so what you should do is to clarify your stand over Sam Rainsy’s comment. Is it right or wrong? I want an affirmation from you,” said Hun Sen. 

He went on to say that he has a problem with the Candlelight Party because the party was founded by Sam Rainsy. 

Senior Candlelight Party officials said they have no connection to Sam Rainsy. Thach Setha, who also serves as the party’s spokesman, said the Candlelight Party acted in accordance with the law and has a leadership structure that has nothing to do with Sam Rainsy. 

He said the party would issue a statement on its stand, but would not condemn Sam Rainsy as a person. 

"We work independently, we have full sovereignty of our party, we do not accept orders from anyone,” Thach Setha said. “We will make a statement but not name a specific person, and [condemn] all of those who insult the king. Those who abuse the constitution, we will also condemn. We fight to protect Cambodia and the throne.” 

Political analyst Em Sovannara said the country’s leaders should not compromise national interest with political conflict, and that Cambodia has no law prohibiting citizens or politicians from talking to “convicts.” 

"Yes, if we talk about communication, it is not illegal,” he said. “Any person has the right to communicate, the accused, the convict or the prisoner. The politician has the right to communicate.”

Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

 

Palestine And Uyghur: Muslim But Different Policies – OpEd

 October 27, 2022  Eurasia Review 

By M Habib Pashya

The discrimination against Muslim Uyghur in Xinjiang, China has been a prominent issue. In early September, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) brought up the issue into its table and offered its members a vote. As a result, 19 of 49 countries rejected or refused to have investigated China’s Uyghur. Of those countries, Indonesia was one of them. The rejection of those countries including Indonesia was to refuse the debate of Human Rights violations in Xinjiang. 

For some contexts, in recent years, there have been numerous reports revealed about Xinjiang’s Muslim. The reports asked for the Chinese government to take its accountability for its massive human rights violence such as mass detention, political indoctrination, and forced assimilation. The latest report from Amnesty International noted that there are several missing of Muslim Uyghur. Since August 2020, Weilina Muhatai, an ethnic Kazakh woman living in Xinjiang, and her two sons, Muhayanti Haleyora and Parisati Haliyoula, has been missing. In another case, Halitoula Tuerxun died in detention in December 2020. 

Regarding its rejection, the Indonesian government argued that Indonesia does not want to be involved in political tensions between China and the United States. The vice ministry of foiregn affairs in Jenewa, Febrian A Ruddy said, “Indonesia considered that the approach proposed by submitted countries and Human Rights Councils does not make a significant action for Human Rights […] hence based on the considerations, Indonesia does not take a agreed position towards the debate.”

Through Indonesia’s action about human rights, many researchers ask Indonesia’s empathy and inquire about the basic principle of Indonesia’ s foreign policy called free and active. They said what we called “free and active” has been misinterpreted by the government. 

Palestine is active mode, but Uyghur is in silent 

CNN Indonesia also has highlighted that why Indonesia always focuses on Palestinian issue but in the sametine, Indonesia denies Uyghur issue. 

Similar to the reports of Uyghur disrimination, there are many reports that involve Indonesia supporting Palestine’s sovereignty. According to Antara News, on July 2022, Indonesia Ambassador to Spain, Muhammad Najib said Indonesia was continuing to support Palestine. He said, “Indonesia always stands together with Palestine, now and forever.” 

Indonesia also encouraged its support by fostering communication and exchanging views with Palestine’s envoy, when Indonesia’s envoy met Husni Abdel Wahed, Palestinian Ambassador to Spain. 

Furthermore, in May 20, 2021, the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Retno Marsudi on the General Debate of the 67th Plenart Meeting of the UN General Assembly at the UN, New York, USA affirmed that Indonesia’s present on Palestinian issue is for humanity, justice, and ceasefire. “The continued occupation and the aggression by Israel does not only warrant condemnation but is also a grave violation of international law.  The UN must immediately take concrete action,” said Retno Marsudi. 

But, Indonesia’s support to Palestine does not exist as same policy as Uyghur Muslim. 

Reported by Jakarta Post in Dec. 23, 2019, Moeldoko, Presidential Chief of Staff said Indonesia does not have a need to meddle in the internal affairs of China. Thus, China has rights to control its resident by its policy, including Uyghur Muslim. 

Indonesia hurts its constitution: Neutrality?

Both involved actors, Palestine and Uyghur, are Muslim aligning with Indonesia’s population that mostly 90 percent are Muslim. 

Though that fact, Muslim Arbi, the Director of Gerakan Perubahan, argued that Indonesia’s action in UNHCR contrats with the substance Undang-Undang Dasar (UUD) 1945 and humanity concept as the basic principle of Indonesia’s foreign policy. 

In Indonesia’s constitution, particularly about Indonesia’s foreign policy, article 3 in 1999, the doctrine of free and active is not only about neutrality, but also how Indonesia can act wisely to respond to international problems. Consequently, Indonesia should promote peace, sovereignty, and social justice. That point also emphasises that Indonesia is active in solving any disputes. 

At this point, Indonesia should make a clear stance against Uyghur. Indonesian diplomats do not do a vast amount of research about their decision. Despite a lack of knowledge, a good decision is supposed to represent the interest of Indonesia’s people. In fact, the Indonesian government does not do that. 

For examples, reported by CNN Indonesia in Dec. 2019, Front Pembela Islam (FPI) and its 10 million followres, did a demonstration in front of China Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. They asked for justice for Uyghur Muslim. The action was also held in the same place in 2022. They did that because of the similarity of identity. In Islam, even though they are a foreign citizen who lives in other countries and they are a Muslim, the Muslim people will say “we are brothers.” Muslim will refer to Al-Hujurat verse 10. 

Hence Indonesia’s decision on Uyghur issue not only hurts Indonesia’s Muslim people, but also the constitution. 

M Habib Pashya, a researcher at the Center for Indonesia-China Studies (CICS)

Uyghur demonstration in Washington, D.C. Photo Credit: Malcolm Brown, Wikipedia Commons

Malala And Greta Thunberg: Two Global Icons Spurned In Their Own Countries – OpEd

 October 27, 2022  Eurasia Review 

By Raza Shahani

Two teenage girls, Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Greta Thunberg from Sweden, swiftly came under the global spotlight due to their life-risking campaigns for the girl’s education and the climate change – two noble causes –, respectively. Within the few years of their campaigns, they have succeeded in magnetizing millions to their causes across the world. Thus, they have emerged as the powerful voices echoing on the streets, in the legislative houses and on the international forums world over. However, unfortunately, they are spurned in their own countries, by their own people. 

In fact, the Taliban rank and file had escaped to Pakistan in the face of the US attack on Afghanistan in 2001. The Taliban foot-soldiers had gathered in the Af-Pak tribal areas on the Pakistani side. Plus, they kept crossing Af-Pak border back into Afghanistan to attack the US-led coalition forces. This embarrassed the US. The US demanded the Pakistani government to operate against the Taliban gangs. Pakistan succumbed to the US pressure and conducted cleansing operations in 2002. The Taliban retaliated against the Pakistani government. Besides, in the process, the Pakistani Taliban, who used to support the Afghan Taliban against the US, banded together and formed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in 2007.

Accordingly, the TTP envisioned overthrowing Pakistani government, to establish caliphate in Pakistan and to institute the Islamic laws. To attain its agenda, the TTP began fighting the Pakistani forces in the Federally Administrative Areas of Pakistan, especially made Sawat Valley the center of its operations. The Taliban demolished state installations, mainly girls’ schools and the hospitals. They banned girls’ education, entertainment activities, and for that matter forbidden women’s walking out of home. 

At this time of gloom, Malala Yousafzai, an 11-year-old girl, came out, raised the voice against the Taliban’s demolishing of schools and the other brutalities. Moreover, she was banished to a far-flung area as an internally displaced person in the face of the state forces’ operations against the Taliban militants in her home town. Thus, within a few years, she became a powerful advocate of education, especially of the female education in a region the Taliban swept through. Unfortunately, on Oct 9, 2012, at the tender age of 14, the Taliban gang singled out Malala on a school bus back to her home from the school and shot two bullets in her head. 

In fact, even before she was shot, Malala had already assumed fame as an education activist across the globe. Thus, a global sympathy poured out just the news of the Taliban’s shooting her reached the masses. Resultantly, critically injured Malala was hurriedly flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, UK, to receive a perfect treatment. Luckily, Malala survived the Taliban bullets and returned to the normal life after an intense care at the hospital, perfect specialist treatment and many surgeries. But her sacrifice for the protection and the promotion of the girls’ education was duly paid. That incident of shooting her earned her international fame and soon she became a global icon. As a fact, she was revered with an opportunity to address the UN General Assembly in 2013, and she was rewarded with the most prestigious prize in the world – Noble Peace Prize – in 2014.

However, the majority of the Pakistanis, her country fellows, hate her. She is despised and labeled as the stooge of the West, especially of the US and Israel – a typical conspiratorial blame, ubiquitous in Pakistan. On the other hand, the Taliban, their sympathizer and admirer politicians, religious extremist influencers, religious extremist outfits, organizations and their fundamentalist religious philosophies are cherished in Pakistan.

The TTP – an umbrella militant organization – is a feral militant organization. It has wiped out thousands of the Pakistani army soldiers and the common innocent people – children, women and the old. Consequently, The Pakistani army and the air force have been fighting the Taliban militants since 2001, and up to date. However, the Pakistani military hasn’t been able to remove a single head of the Pakistani Taliban. It was the US drone strikes that have been eliminating the successive TTP leadership. The US drone strikes killed the Pakistani Taliban founder, Nek Mohammad and in a series Baitullah Mehsud, Hakimullah Mehsud and many others. Ironically, the Pakistani state, government and the society furiously react to the every US drone attack that kills the Taliban leaders. Needless to say, they had exuded rage upon the killing of the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as well.

Moreover, Imran Khan who had spent his prime-age-time-period in Europe, America and the non-Muslim world with an entirely western life style unleashed the fury over the killing of the TTP chief, Hakimullah Mehsud who was the butcher. In addition, Khan asked his party government in Khaber Pakhtunkhuwa to pass a resolution the KP assembly to block NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. In a similar fashion, Afia Sidique, a Pakistan citizen who is serving an 86-year imprisonment upon her involvement in killing the NATO forces is held in high esteem and adored with the title “daughter of the nation.

Besides, when the government decided to negotiate the Taliban as they had already shot Malala and killed thousands, demolished schools, hospitals and the other infrastructure worth of millions, the Taliban nominated Khan the one member of their negotiating team. Although Khan had apologized the Taliban to be their team member, he ensured them that he would facilitate the dialogue. 

Even though Khan was an aggressively pro-Taliban politician, and the society feared the Taliban most yet he was elected the prime minister in 2018 general elections. Though the Pakistan National Assembly ousted Khan through the vote of no-confidence before he completed his full tenure, he is the most popular politician in Pakistan and is one the top influential in the Muslim world. However, Malala, a noble laureate, can’t move freely in Pakistan.

In fact, like Malala, Greta Thunberg is also a global figure. She is a teenage Swedish girl. She is a climate activist. Her climate campaign has aroused millions to protect the Earth mother. In 2019, she was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize. However, Greta too, like Malala, is disowned in her own country. 

Sweden is one of the most democratic, progressive and happiest country in the world. In Sweden, around half a dozen political parties contested the 2022 elections. One of the contestant parties was the Green Party of Sweden, which could secure only 18 seats in the 349 member house. The Green party participated in the last elections with the manifesto promising a clean and green Sweden, and the Europe. However, the results of the elections displayed the surge in the vote percentage for an extremist and anti-migrant party. Thus, as Malala in Pakistan, Greta’s philosophy was defeated in her own country, by her own people. 

The societies and the states the usurping communities, classes, groups, outfits and the individuals preponderate and rule hate the truth and the reality. They monopolize the state and the state resources. Since the state resources use to be on their hand, they propagate their usurping ideas, narratives and information effectively compared to any other revisionist socio-political group or individual. In this situation, the resistant socio-political groups and their ideas, narratives and information are suppressed at the state level and loathed in the society. Thus, in these states and the societies the truth is a despicable thing and the fake and the lies are sacralised.

Raza Shahani Teaches at the Department of Pakistan Studies, Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur, Sindh, Pakistan