Pakistan rejects US religious freedom report 'based on faulty assumptions'

• FO spox says USCIRF non-reflective of ground realities in Pakistan.
• USCIRF says Pakistan engaged in "violations of religious freedom”.
• Baloch says designation of countries 'unwarranted and futile'.

Pakistan has termed the findings of a report by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to be based on “faulty assumptions and unsubstantiated allegations”, saying it did not reflect the ground realities regarding religious freedom in the country.

“The document was based on faulty assumptions and unsubstantiated allegations and was non-reflective of the ground realities in Pakistan,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said during the weekly press briefing on Thursday.

The United States’ body for assessing threats to the fundamental right of freedom to practice any religion, in its annual report for 2024, recommended Pakistan as a “country of particular concern for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom”.

The report cited incidents of violence against religious minorities and “forced conversions” in the country last year, such as the Peshawar mosque blast that killed at least 100 and the murder of a Sikh citizen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“In 2023, religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continued to deteriorate. Religious minorities were targeted for their beliefs, including accusations of blasphemy, and were subject to mob violence, lynchings, and forced conversions,” the report stated.

Besides mentioning attacks and desecration of places of worship, the report also stated the “positive reforms” made by the Pakistani government such as amendments to blasphemy laws and making Islamic studies a noncompulsory subject for religious minorities.

It also called for imposing targeted sanctions on Pakistani government agencies and officials responsible for severe violations of religious freedom.

However, Baloch said that "Pakistan believes that the USCIRF’s annual exercise of designating countries was unwarranted and futile".

“The futility of USCIRF’s recommendations can be gauged by the fact that since 2020 the US State Department has ignored its recommendation to declare India a ‘Country of Particular Concern’.

She said that this exercise would have been more credible if it did not reflect double standards and geo-political considerations and had a bigger focus on the “glaring rise of Islamophobia”.

'Israeli crimes against humanity must end'

Moreover, the FO spokesperson strongly condemned Israeli settlers’ attack on a Jordanian aid convoy carrying humanitarian assistance to occupied Gaza.

“Pakistan condemns in the strongest terms the invasion and seizure of the Rafah border crossing in southern Gaza by Israeli occupation forces in defiance of international warnings and acceptable international behaviour,” she remarked.

Baloch said the Israeli forces were now moving forward to forcibly displace civilians from the last remaining shelter for millions fleeing from the inhumane assault in the rest of the besieged Gaza Strip.

“These war crimes and crimes against humanity must end. We call on the international community to take urgent measures to bring an end to this aggression and genocide. Measures should be taken to fully protect civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and the occupation forces must be held accountable for the Gaza genocide,” she added.

Additional input from APP