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Pakistan rejects US blacklist for religious freedom violations
ISLAMABAD, Dec 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Pakistan on Wednesday rejected
Washington’s decision to place it on a blacklist of countries that violate
religious freedom, branding it “politically motivated” and defending its
treatment of minorities.
“Pakistan does not need counsel by any individual country (on) how to
protect the rights of its minorities,” a statement from the foreign ministry
said, adding that Islamabad “rejects” the designation.
The statement came a day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced
that he had designated Pakistan among “countries of particular concern” in a
congressionally mandated annual report.
The move means the US government is obliged to exert pressure, including
imposing sanctions if necessary, to end freedom violations.
It comes more than 40 days after a Pakistani court exonerated Asia Bibi, a
Christian woman who had spent eight years on death row for blasphemy.
She remains in protective custody in an unknown location after violent
protests against her acquittal. Blasphemy is an inflammatory charge in
Pakistan, and high-profile vigilante murders and mob lynchings have been
carried out in the past.
Bibi is currently seeking asylum abroad. Her family claims her life will be
in danger if she remains in Pakistan.
Pakistan recently charged a hardline cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, with
terrorism and sedition after he led violent protests against Bibi’s
acquittal.
The foreign ministry statement did not mention her, or the issue of
blasphemy.
“Pakistan is a multi-religious and pluralistic society where people of
diverse faiths and denominations live together,” it said.
It also warned that honesty would have required Washington to examine the
“exponential rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the US”.
Human rights advocates have long voiced alarm about the treatment of
religious minorities in Pakistan, including Shiites, Christians and the
Ahmadis, whom Islamabad forbids from identifying as Muslim.
The State Department had earlier held off on condemning Pakistan, a vital
gateway for US forces in Afghanistan.
But it last year placed Pakistan on a special watch list — a step short of
the designation — and Washington has separately curbed military assistance.
Pakistan says around four percent of its total population comprises
citizens belonging to Christian, Hindu, Budhists and Sikh faiths.
Nine countries remained for another year on the list of “Countries of
Particular Concern” — China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The United States removed one country from the list — Uzbekistan — but
kept it on the watch list.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1641 hrs