After being added to a list of violators of religious freedoms by the Trump administration, Pakistan on Wednesday rejected the “unilateral and politically motivated pronouncement”. Pakistan further suggested that the US must introspect over the exponential rise of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in America.
Notably, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Tuesday said that Pakistan was joining Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, North Korea, Burma, Eritrea, Sudan and Tajikistan on a list of countries that have “engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom”.
Reacting strongly to this, Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) issued a statement saying, “Pakistan rejects the US State Department’s unilateral and politically motivated pronouncement … Besides the clear biases reflected from these designations, there are serious questions over the credentials and impartiality of the self-proclaimed jury involved in this unwarranted exercise.”
The FO further explained measures that the government had taken to safeguard the rights of its citizens, including the use of legal and administrative mechanisms, adding that Islamabad submits compliance reports on its obligations with respect to fundamental freedoms as a party to seven of nine core human rights treaties.
“Pakistan does not need counsel by any individual country how to protect the rights of its minorities,” the statement added. The FO suggested that honest introspection on Washington’s part would have been a timely move in order to ascertain the causes behind the exponential rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the US.
“Sadly, the proponents of human rights worldwide close their eyes to the systematic persecution of minorities subjected to alien domination and foreign occupation…,” the statement concluded.
Last year, Pompeo had placed Pakistan on a special watch list — a step short of the designation — which is used to persuade the targeted nation into introducing reforms suggested in annual US reports for religious freedom.
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