Email leak reveals the surprising friendship between Hunter Biden and his 'buddy' Tucker Carlson, says report

In  email, Biden  described Carlson as "a nice guy - that I completely disagree with on everything."

Alia Shoaib
Sun, December 5, 2021

President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden (L) and Fox News host Tucker Carlson (R).

Paul Morigi/Getty Images (L), Fox News (R).


The Daily Mail published emails that reveal a close friendship between Hunter Biden and Tucker Carlson.


Biden wrote a college recommendation for Carlson's son, and Carlson intervened in an unflattering news story about Biden.


The intimate interactions appear to be at odds with Carlson's public attitude towards Biden.

Emails published by The Daily Mail appear to show a surprisingly close friendship between Hunter Biden and Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

In the emails, President Joe Biden's son tells Carlson that he loves him and his family and describes him as his "friend" and "buddy."

The Daily Mail said it found the emails on Hunter Biden's abandoned laptop, which was the subject of intense controversy before the 2020 presidential election.

The laptop was said to have been left in a Delaware computer shop, then handed to former President Donald Trump allies, and eventually ended up with the Daily Mail.

One email exchange published by the outlet revealed that Biden wrote a letter of recommendation to Georgetown University for Carlson's son.

LinWood/Telegram

"Hunter! I can't thank you enough for writing that letter to Georgetown on Buckley's behalf," Carlson wrote in the email from November 2014.

"So nice of you. I know it'll help. Hope you're great and we can all get dinner soon. Tucker," the email continued.

The intimate interactions appear to be at odds with Carlson's public attitude towards Biden.

In April, Carlson baselessly claimed that Biden watches child pornography, and during

 the 2020 presidential campaign, Carlson referred to the younger Biden as a "fallen man."

Another email exchange from August 2015 revealed that Carlson appeared to have intervened in a Daily Mail news story about Biden using a website for those seeking extramarital affairs.

At the time, Biden denied reports that he had opened an "Ashley Madison" account using his name and email address.

On August 27, Biden wrote "call me pls" to Carlson, and two hours later, the Fox News anchor responded, revealing that he had contacted the editor on Biden's behalf.

"Just lost my shit on the editor over there. He claims the London office forced him to do it. He's a pig either way, and I told him so,"' Carlson wrote.

"This whole thing is disgusting and awful, and it breaks my heart that you all have to go through it. I'm really sorry. Let me know if there's anything Susie and I can do to help."

Biden responded: "I'm sorry for even calling you. I know I put you in a difficult position- and upon reflection, as you're [a] friend I should have never done that."

He also said that the reports were false and was agitated after a journalist went to his house and questioned his daughter.

"Regardless, I should have never put you in this position – you have your own family, all of whom I love, and your own business, and defending me is not something a friend should ask a friend to do. Tell Susie we love her and miss you both very much," the email continued.

In another email, Biden wrote to a friend and described Carlson as "a nice guy - that I completely disagree with on everything."

A Fox News spokeswoman told The Daily Mail that Carlson "has been transparent about his relationship with the president's son."

Although he declined to comment on Biden's college recommendation letter for his son, he confirmed that he had called the Daily Mail editor on Biden's behalf.

"Daily Mail reporter showed up at his house when he wasn't home and informed one of his daughters that her dad was cheating on her mom. I don't care if it's Hunter Biden or not, that's awful," he told the outlet.

"I knew the Daily Mail's Washington editor at the time, so I called and told him I thought he was a pig for doing that. That's still my opinion."

Earlier this week, Trump-allied lawyer Lin Wood published some of the emails on his Telegram account and criticized the pair's "buddy buddy" relationship.

The ‘stench’ of politicization: Sonia Sotomayor’s supreme court warning

Oral arguments over the Mississippi abortion case this week showed the threat to Roe v Wade from an increasingly politicized court

‘The perception of nonchalance towards the integrity of the court among the six conservative justices now in the majority is striking.’

 Photograph: Dana Verkouteren/AP

Ed Pilkington
@edpilkington
Sat 4 Dec 2021 

About 11 minutes into this week’s hearing on abortion rights at the US supreme court, the floor was taken by Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three beleaguered liberal-leaning justices left on the court after its sharp rightward shift under Donald Trump.


‘It’s earth-shattering’: Democrats and allies vow midterm fight over abortion

Sotomayor began by noting that in the past 30 years no fewer than 15 justices of all political backgrounds had supported the right to an abortion up to the point of fetal viability. Only four had objected.

Now after so many years of relative consensus, the legality of abortion enshrined in the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v Wade and reaffirmed in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v Casey was suddenly on the line.

Politicians in Mississippi, Sotomayor remarked (while leaving it unsaid that they were rightwing Republicans), had devised new legislation to ban abortions after just 15 weeks of pregnancy. By these politicians’ own admission, their bills were targeted specifically at the three new justices on the supreme court (all appointed by Trump, though she left that unspoken too).

Then she went in for the kill.

She addressed the danger posed by the court’s sudden and apparently politically motivated change of heart not just to abortion rights but to the rule of law itself.

If the nation’s highest court, with its newly constituted Trumpian majority, were to go along with the ploy set for it by Mississippi and throw out half a century of settled law affirming a woman’s right to choose, then what would happen to the court’s legitimacy as a place in American democracy that rises above the cut and thrust of grubby partisanship?

“Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the constitution and its reading are just political acts?” she said. “I don’t see how it is possible.”

Stench. The word ricocheted off the august walls of the courtroom like a bullet.

“It was a shocking moment,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “An unadorned recognition of the legitimacy issues that are clearly preoccupying a number of the justices.”

For Stephen Vladeck, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Texas at Austin, the takeaway of this week’s hearing was not how many justices were preoccupied with the reputational damage facing an increasingly politicised court, but how few. “To me, the single most distressing feature of Justice Sotomayor’s arguments was how little anyone else seemed to care,” he told the Guardian.

Vladeck said he was dismayed by the “casualness with which so many of the justices seemed to be taking an issue that is so central to so many women. A ruling that gets rid of Roe would be enormously damaging in the eyes of millions of Americans, yet some of the conservative justices don’t seem to think that’s important.”

The perception of nonchalance towards the integrity of the court among the six conservative justices now in the majority is striking. In advance of last week’s supercharged hearing, several of those same justices bent over backwards to try to convince the American people that they are neutral servants of the constitution.

The three justices appointed by Trump have been especially keen to portray themselves as having not a partisan bone in their body. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first of the three appointments, insisted in September 2019 that it was “rubbish” to imply that the justices were “like politicians with robes”.

More recently Amy Coney Barrett, another of Trump’s triumvirate of appointees, told an audience in Kentucky that the supreme court was not “comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks”.

But she was speaking at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville and was introduced at the event by the politician after whom the venue is named – Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the US Senate. It was his shenanigans, blocking Merrick Garland’s confirmation to the court in 2016 on grounds that it was in an election year then rushing through Barrett’s confirmation much closer to election day in 2020, that gave Trump his three picks.

But it is the third of Trump’s supreme court proteges, Brett Kavanaugh, whose position is perhaps most glaring. During his confirmation process in 2018 Kavanaugh went to great lengths to underline his respect for the decisions made by his predecessors on the court, and for the legal doctrine known as stare decisis, which requires justices to honor past rulings in all but exceptional cases.

Kavanaugh assured senators worried about his stance on abortion that he saw Roe v Wade as “settled law”.

He went even further in his conversations with Susan Collins, the relatively moderate Republican senator from Maine on whose vote Kavanaugh depended. When she announced her decision to back him for the supreme court, she revealed what he had said to her during private conversations.

“There has been considerable … concern that Judge Kavanaugh would seek to overturn Roe v Wade,” she said. “Protecting this right is important to me. As Judge Kavanaugh asserted to me, a long-established precedent is not something to be trimmed, narrowed, discarded or overlooked.”

But when it came round to Kavanaugh’s turn to speak in this week’s debate he read out a long list of supreme court cases in which prior precedents had been overturned. He left observers with the clear impression that he was preparing to do precisely what he promised Collins and her fellow senators that he would not do – run roughshod over a pillar of constitutional law.

The pointed interventions of the Trump justices and their conservative peers in this week’s hearing have led most observers convinced that abortion rights in the US are likely to be grossly restricted or abolished outright when the court rules next June. That would be uncannily as Trump himself had predicted.

In a televised debate during the 2016 presidential race, Trump was asked by the Fox News host Chris Wallace whether he wanted the court, including any justices he might appoint as president, to overturn the right to an abortion. He replied: “I am pro-life, and I will be appointing pro-life judges. I would think that that will go back to the individual states.”

Trump did go on to appoint anti-abortion judges, and they are now poised to send control back to individual states, 21 of which currently have laws in place that would effectively ban abortions overnight were Roe v Wade overturned.

Vladeck fears that the vast and growing disconnect between what the conservative justices say they are doing – impartially and faithfully upholding the law of the land, and what they are actually doing – playing along with the machinations of politicians in states like Mississippi, bodes very ill for the legitimacy of the court.

In the long run it could also harm America’s future as a country of laws.

“Public perception matters,” he said. “The more the court appears to be guided by contemporary partisan preferences as opposed to permanent legal principles, the harder it will be for millions of Americans on the wrong side of these cases to understand why they should be bound by them.”

CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 

Struggling Chinese Developer Evergrande Warns It Could Run out of Money

December 03, 2021
Associated Press

FILE - A security guard stands at the headquarters of China Evergrande Group

 in Hong Kong, Oct. 4, 2021.

BEIJING —

A Chinese developer that is struggling under $310 billion in debt warned Friday it may run out of money to "perform its financial obligations" — sending regulators scrambling to reassure investors that China's financial markets can be protected from a potential impact.

Evergrande Group's struggle to comply with official pressure to reduce debt has fueled anxiety that a possible default might trigger a financial crisis. Economists say global markets are unlikely to be affected, but banks and bondholders might suffer because Beijing wants to avoid a bailout.

WATCH: Why Is China's Evergrande in Trouble?


After reviewing Evergrande's finances, "there is no guarantee that the Group will have sufficient funds to continue to perform its financial obligations," the company said in a statement through the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Shortly after that, regulators tried to soothe investor fears by issuing statements saying China's financial system was strong and that default rates are low. They said most developers are financially healthy and that Beijing will keep lending markets functioning.

"The spillover impact of the group's risk events on the stable operation of the capital market is controllable," the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on its website. The central bank and bank regulator issued similar statements.

Beijing tightened restrictions on developers' use of borrowed money last year in a campaign to rein in surging corporate debt that is seen as a threat to economic stability.

The ruling Communist Party has made reducing financial risk a priority since 2018. In 2014, authorities allowed the first corporate bond default since the 1949 communist revolution. Defaults have gradually been allowed to increase in hopes of forcing borrowers and investors to be more disciplined.

Despite that, total corporate, government and household debt rose from the equivalent of 270% of annual economic output in 2018 to nearly 300% last year, unusually high for a middle-income country. Economists say a financial crisis is unlikely but that debt could drag on economic growth.

Evergrande, the global real estate industry's biggest debtor, owes 2 trillion yuan ($310 billion), mostly to domestic banks and bond investors. It also owes $19 billion to foreign bondholders.

Evergrande said it has 2.3 trillion yuan ($350 billion) in assets, but the company has struggled to turn that into cash to pay bondholders and other creditors. It called off the $2.6 billion sale of a stake in a subsidiary last October because the buyer failed to follow through on its purchase.

Evergrande's statement Friday said the company faces a demand to fulfill a $260 million obligation. It said if that obligation cannot be met, other creditors might demand repayment of debts earlier than normal.

The company has missed deadlines to pay interest on some bonds but made payments before a grace period ended and was declared in default. Evergrande also said some bondholders can choose to be paid by receiving apartments that are under construction.

The Evergrande chairman, Xu Jiayin, was summoned to meet Friday with officials of its home province of Guangdong, a government statement said. The statement said a government team would be sent to Evergrande headquarters to help oversee risk management.

Evergrande's struggle has prompted warnings that a financial squeeze on real estate — an industry that propelled China's explosive 1998-2008 economic boom — could lead to trouble for banks and an abrupt and politically dangerous collapse in growth.

Also Friday, another developer, Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd., warned it might fail to pay off a $400 million bond due next week.

A midsize developer, Fantasia Holdings Group, announced October 5 that it failed to make a $205.7 million payment due to bondholders.

Hundreds of smaller Chinese developers have gone bankrupt since regulators began tightening control over the industry's finances in 2017.

The slowdown in construction helped to depress China's economic growth an unexpectedly low 4.9% over a year earlier in the three months ending in September. Forecasters expect growth to decelerate further if the financing curbs stay in place.

In the latest blow to the cash-strapped Evergrande group, the Chinese government has now summoned the founder of the real estate firm, after the company issued a statement saying that it might not have sufficient funds to meet its financial obligations. #EvergrandeFounder #China #WION

'JUST A ONE OFF'

Chinese regulators say Evergrande default an individual case, impact controllable

Xinhua, December 4, 2021

The recent default of property developer China Evergrande Group is an individual case and will pose little impact on the market, the country's regulatory authorities said Friday.

Evergrande's problem was mainly caused by its own mismanagement and break-neck expansion, an official with the People's Bank of China (PBOC) told the press when asked to comment on Evergrande's recent default on guarantee obligation.

The overseas U.S. dollar bond market is quite mature with well-defined legal provisions and procedures on how to deal with relevant issues and its investors are good at risk identification, said the official. "The risks caused by a certain individual real estate firm in the short term will not undermine the fund-raising function of the market for the medium and long run."

Housing sales, land purchases and financing have already returned to normal in China. Some Chinese property developers are beginning to buy back their overseas bonds, and investors are also starting to buy dollar bonds issued by Chinese property developers, according to the PBOC.

China is committed to creating a level-playing field and advancing the two-way opening-up of its financial markets. Relevant Chinese authorities will continue to communicate with their overseas regulatory counterparts, said the central bank.

The PBOC stated that companies issuing bond overseas and their shareholders will be urged to strictly follow market disciplines, properly handle their debt issues, and meet their debt obligations in accordance with law and market principles. For those firms which would like to make outward remittances for debt repayment or bond buy-back purposes, relevant authorities in China will support and facilitate their efforts under the existing policy framework.

The PBOC supported the provincial government of Guangdong in sending a team of advisors to the firm, noting that this will help Evergrande resolve its risks, enhance its internal risk management and maintain normal business operation.

"We will continue to work together with the provincial government of Guangdong, the relevant agencies as well as local governments in risk resolution, with the aim of promoting stable and healthy development of the real estate sector, and safeguarding lawful rights and interests of home buyers," the PBOC official said.

"We believe that regulatory authorities in relevant jurisdictions would handle this issue in a law-based and fair manner," a spokesman with the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said.

Noting the current default will not have negative impact on the safe and sound operation of China's banking and insurance industries, the spokesman said there will be no change for the principles and stance upheld by the financial regulatory agencies in protecting the legitimate rights of consumers, investors and businesses according to the law.

There will be no change for China's market-oriented financial reform and opening-up under the rule of law and in accordance with international standards, said the spokesman.

Currently, Guangdong provincial government, other relevant local governments and agencies are guiding and urging Evergrande Group and its affiliates to resolve risks steadily and orderly in accordance with laws and regulations, and to proactively resume and complete housing construction for delivery to buyers. Financial institutions including banks and insurance companies are also actively participating in relevant work, said the CBIRC.

China's real estate industry as a whole remains robust, and most property firms are focusing on and properly managing their main lines of business, said the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

"Currently, the A-share market remains stable, resilient and active," said the securities regulator, stressing that the potential overflow effect of Evergrande's risks on the stability of China's capital markets is under control.

The default rate on the exchange bond market has been at a relatively low level of 1%, and public companies and bond issuers with real-estate businesses have kept their major financial metrics intact, it said.

To promote the stable and sound development of both the capital markets and real estate industry in China, the CSRC said it will continue to maintain the effective fund-raising function of the country's capital markets and support the normal financing needs of real estate companies.

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

Facebook Count

Twitter Share

   

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