Pakistan called the US State Department’s designation of it as “a country of particular concern” on Monday, emphatically rejecting it as “detached from ground realities.”
Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, and a few more governments were all named as nations of special concern by the State Department last week for “having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
Governments were urged to put a halt to violations such as assaults on members of religious minority communities and their places of worship, acts of communal violence, protracted detention for nonviolent protest, and international repression.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated in a statement, “We are deeply dismayed that the designation is based on biased and arbitrary assessment, detached from ground realities.”
Pakistan, according to her, is a diversified nation with a long history of religious concord. She said that Pakistan had taken extensive steps to uphold minority rights and advance religious freedom in accordance with its Constitution.
“We are extremely concerned to learn that India—the largest and most persistent offender of religious freedom—has once again been left off of the US State Department’s list of designated countries. This is true despite widespread concerns about India’s mistreatment of religious minorities expressed by international human rights advocates, as well as a clear recommendation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The spokesperson stated, “This glaring omission raises serious questions about the credibility, transparency, and objectivity of the entire process.”
Pakistan, she said, was still convinced that these kinds of discriminating, unilateral, and subjective exercises were harmful and undercut our common goal of promoting religious freedom around the world.
Pakistan firmly believes that constructive interaction and group efforts based on mutual understanding and respect are the greatest ways to combat the modern challenges of religious intolerance, xenophobia, and Islamophobia. Pakistan has established bilateral relations with the US in a similar manner, the statement continued.
She stated that the US side was being informed of Pakistan’s worries on the designation.
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