US uniformly opposes blasphemy laws: official

WASHINGTON: The US Department of State on Thursday said that it “uniformly opposes blasphemy laws everywhere in the world, including in Pakistan.”

During the daily press briefing, the department’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel acknowledged that they were aware of reports of “mob violence and blasphemy charges against the Christian man over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran.”

As we previously stated, he said, we are always concerned by incidents of religiously motivated violence. “Violence or the threat of violence is never an acceptable form of expression,” he stressed.

Responding to another question about the deaths of Pakistani soldiers conducting operations along the Afghan border, Patel said that the US has been in regular communication with Pakistani leaders on counterterrorism issues and that “we’re going to continue to discuss regional security in detail including through high level engagements, working level engagements and other extensive bilateral consultations.”