The Foreign Office on Thursday categorically rejected as baseless the U.S. State Department’s report on religious freedom in Pakistan, saying it was “ill-informed” and served no purpose.
“Such ill-informed reporting exercises about internal affairs of sovereign states are pointless, irresponsible and counterproductive,” spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told a weekly press briefing. Maintaining that Pakistan assured religious freedom to all its citizens, she said the country was proud of its religious diversity and pluralistic social fabric. Noting that the Constitution laid out a robust framework for wide-ranging legal policy and affirmative measures to safeguard and advance the rights and freedoms of all Pakistanis irrespective of their faith, she added: “These rights and constitutional guarantees are protected, upheld and reinforced by an independent judiciary. We strongly believe that each state itself has the primary responsibility to promote and protect religious rights and freedoms of its nationals.”
Stating that Pakistan had always engaged constructively with the international community to promote mutual understanding on religious freedom and minority rights, she clarified that in its interactions with various states, including the U.S., Islamabad had raised serious concerns about the steady surge in anti-Muslim hatred, racism and Islamophobia. “We hope to work with international partners to counter these pernicious forms of religious intolerance, discrimination and Islamophobia,” she added.
The 2022 U.S. International Religious Freedom Report had called for the need to improve “interfaith tolerance, inclusion, and harmony” in the country. “According to media reports, police at times killed, physically abused, or failed to protect members of religious minorities,” it said, adding the courts continued to enforce blasphemy laws, punishment for which ranged up to the death penalty. It also pointed out that the Interior Ministry had ordered the Punjab government to take action against an NGO for a report it had submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council on forced conversions and the misuse of blasphemy laws.
To a question on a letter sent by 65 U.S. Congressmen to the Secretary of State that had expressed concerns over the trial of political workers in Pakistan under the Army Act, the spokesperson stressed that Pakistan had the full ability to deal with all domestic challenges in accordance with law and its Constitution.
India-held Kashmir
During her briefing, Baloch welcomed a statement from U.N. Special Rapporteur on Minority Affairs Fernand de Varennes on the situation in India-held Kashmir. In his statement, he had warned against Indian plans to hold the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar. “He has rightly said that India is providing a ‘veneer of support to a façade of normalcy’ at a time when massive human rights violations, illegal and arbitrary arrests, political persecution, restrictions and even suppression of free media and human rights defenders continue to escalate,” she said. “We agree with the special rapporteur that the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir should be decried and condemned, not pushed under the rug and ignored with the holding of the G20 meeting. Members of G20 should pay due attention to these observations and sage advice,” she added.
On reports of ethnic cleansing in the Indian state of Manipur, she said Pakistan did not comment on the internal affairs of other countries as a matter of principle. “In the past, however, Pakistan has expressed concerns about the treatment of minorities by India and we hope that India will make efforts to protect its minorities,” she added.
Gaza
The spokesperson also noted that Pakistan was closely following developments in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories and was concerned about the impact of violence on civilians. Condemning the killing of 33 Palestinians, including women and children, over the last several days, she urged Israel to adhere to its international obligations and respect the recent ceasefire agreement, ending days of bloodshed and indiscriminate use of force in Gaza by Israeli occupation forces.
“Pakistan reaffirms its unstinted support for the Palestinian cause and renews its call for a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian state, with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital as the only just, comprehensive and lasting solution of the Palestinian question, in accordance with the relevant United Nations and OIC resolutions,” she said.