PAKISTAN on Tuesday rejected its listing by the United States
as a violator of religious freedoms, saying the “unilateral and arbitrary designation” is not only detached from the ground realities of Pakistan but also raises questions about the credibility and transparency of the entire exercise. The Foreign Office in a strongly worded statement also questioned the “conspicuous omission” of India from the list, saying it reflected the “subjectivity and bias” of the US State Department’s designations.
With the passage of time, this exercise on the part of the United States has assumed political dimensions as the designation is used to pressurize particular countries and favouring others by way of ignoring altogether their track record of religious freedom. Rights and interests of religious minorities are not just protected in the Constitution and law in Pakistan but the successive governments too have been going extra mile in ensuring their safety, security and wellbeing. Under the law, minorities are well represented down from Union Council level to the National Assembly and the Senate in elected houses and therefore, have a say in policy-making and decision-making process. Courts too have been showing magnanimous attitude towards minorities as was reflected fully by the verdict of the Supreme Court in Aasia Bibi case, which is in sharp contrast to what Indian top court adjudicated in Babri mosque case. Regrettably, the US also chose to close its eyes to longest ever curfew in Occupied Kashmir where Muslims are facing worst kinds of brutality and discriminatory citizenship act by India against which there are also protests by minorities in the United States.
