Islamabad: Pakistan has criticized the findings of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, saying it does not reflect the reality of religious freedom in the country, saying it is based on “false assumptions and baseless allegations”.
“This document is based on false assumptions and baseless allegations and does not reflect the reality in Pakistan,” Foreign Minister spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a press conference on Thursday.
In its 2024 annual report, the United States-based Organization for the Assessment of Threats to the Fundamental Right to Freedom of Religion has recommended Pakistan as “a country of concern for persistent, persistent, and serious violations of religious freedom.”
The report noted violence against religious minorities and “forced conversions” in the country, including last year’s Peshawar mosque bombing that killed at least 100 people and the killing of Sikhs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“In 2023, the state of religious freedom in Pakistan continues to deteriorate.
The report cited “positive reforms” by the Pakistani government, including changing blasphemy laws and making Islamic education optional for religious minorities.
It also called for targeting Pakistani government institutions and officials responsible for violations of religious freedom.
However, Buluch said, “Pakistan believes that USCIRF’s annual country identification exercise is baseless and ineffective.”
“The USCIRF recommendations are ineffective, and it may ignore the US State Department’s proposal to designate India as a Country of Special Concern from 2020.
He said that the exercise would be safer if it did not show double standards and geo-political considerations and paid more attention to “growing Islamophobia”.
‘Israel’s crimes against humanity must end’
In addition, the FO spokesman strongly condemned the attack by Israeli settlers on the Jordanian aid convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the occupied Gaza.
Baloch said Israeli forces are moving forward to forcibly evict civilians from the last refuge for millions of people fleeing the inhumane attacks in the rest of the besieged Gaza Strip.
We call on the international community to take urgent action to stop this aggression and genocide. “According to international humanitarian law, measures must be taken to fully protect civilians and the occupying forces must be held accountable for the Gaza genocide .”
