FO slams US move to keep Pakistan in, India out of religious freedom blacklist

State Department had ignored India despite its targeting of Muslims, IOK lockdown and controversial citizenship act

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad has categorically rejected the US State Department’s “unilateral and arbitrary” decision of keeping Pakistan in its 2019 annual blacklist for religious freedom violations.

Pakistan was kept in the list for a second year while India was ignored, despite its targeting of Muslims over cow slaughter allegations, occupied Kashmir lockdown and the latest citizenship act on communal lines.

Nine countries, including Pakistan, remained on the State Department’s annual list of “countries of particular concern” for having engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom”. Sudan is the only nation removed from the blacklist.

Pakistan was designated in 2018 after years of US hesitation over concerns on the treatment of minorities. According to the announcement made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Pakistan’s name featured in the list of countries, which are subject to sanctions over religious liberty.

“This pronouncement is not only detached from ground realities of Pakistan but also raises questions about the credibility and transparency of the entire exercise. The designation is reflective of selective targeting of countries, and thus unlikely to be helpful to the professed cause of advancing religious freedom,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Pakistan in, India out of US religious freedom blacklist

It said Pakistan is a multi-religious and pluralistic country where people of all faiths enjoy religious freedom under constitutional protections. All branches -- the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary -- have made concerted efforts to ensure that all citizens of Pakistan, irrespective of faith, denomination, caste or creed, can profess and practice their religion in full freedom. The higher judiciary of the country has given landmark judgements directing on ensuring the sanctity and security of places of worship of minorities, it added.

Pakistan has also engaged with the international community, including the United States, for better understanding on religious freedom issues. Earlier this year, Senator Samuel Brownback, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, was welcomed in Pakistan for dialogue to advance the mutual objectives of religious freedom globally. "It is regrettable that this constructive engagement has been overlooked," the FO maintained.

“The subjectivity and bias of the State Department’s designations are further illustrated by the conspicuous omission of India, the biggest violator of religious freedom,” it said.

The US Congress held two hearings and more than 70 US legislators publicly expressed concerns over India’s treatment of Kashmiris and prolonged suppression of their fundamental rights in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K).

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, the UN Secretary General in New York, and several European Parliaments have similarly expressed their concerns on the issue.

“In today’s India, people belonging to minority communities are being lynched, persecuted and killed with impunity. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the recently adopted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are the latest examples of the Indian government's actions to discriminate against people and evidently pave the way towards cleansing of society on the basis of religion,” the statement further read.

“Challenges to religious freedom are a global concern and only cooperative efforts can help address them. For its part, Pakistan has also raised concerns over growing trend of Islamophobia in many Western countries including the United States. Working together in an environment of trust and understanding is the best way forward in realizing the objective of promoting and protecting religious freedom.”