ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday rejected the US State Department’s unilateral and arbitrary designation under the religious freedom report saying that the pronouncement was not only detached from the ground realities of Pakistan but, also raised about the credibility and transparency of the entire exercise.
“The designation is reflective of selective targeting of countries and thus unlikely to be helpful to the professed cause of advancing religious freedom,” the foreign office spokesperson said in a press release.
The foreign office said Pakistan is a multi-religious and pluralistic country where people of all faiths enjoy religious freedom under constitutional protections.
“All branches — the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary — have made concerted efforts to ensure that all citizens of Pakistan, irrespective of faith, denomination, caste or creed, can profess and practice their religion in full freedom. The higher judiciary of the country has given landmark judgments directing on ensuring the sanctity and security of places of worship of minorities,” it maintained.
It said Pakistan had also engaged with the international community, including the United States, for a better understanding on religious freedom issues.
Earlier this year, Senator Samuel Brownback, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, was welcomed in Pakistan for dialogue to advance the mutual objectives of religious freedom globally.
“It is regrettable that this constructive engagement has been overlooked,” the spokesperson added.
“Working together in an environment of trust and understanding is the best way forward in realizing the objective of promoting and protecting religious freedom,” the press release added.
#Pakistan rejects the U.S. State Department’s unilateral and arbitrary designation under the religious freedom report announced on 20 December 2019.
Press Release by @ForeignOfficePk pic.twitter.com/zM8cUsPsY2
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) December 24, 2019
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, the UN Secretary General in New York, and several European Parliaments had similarly expressed their concerns, it added.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the recently adopted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were the latest examples of the Indian government’s actions to discriminate against people and evidently paved the way towards cleansing of society on the basis of religion, it said.
