Pakistan protests at US religious freedom report

ISLAMABAD: The Trump administration on Tuesday waived potential sanctions on Pakistan for alleged its infringement of human rights after a strong protest which rejected the State Department's pronouncement as ‘unilateral and politically-motivated’.

The Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, quickly took a step back and said ‘there will be no added sanctions on Pakistan keeping in mind the important national interest of the United States’. Pakistan said it did not need counsel by any ‘individual’ country on how to protect the rights of its minorities. “Pakistan rejects the US State Department’s unilateral and politically motivated pronouncement in the context of its annual religious freedom report. Besides the clear biases reflected from these designations, there are serious questions on the credentials and impartiality of the self-proclaimed jury involved in this unwarranted exercise,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

The Trump administration on Tuesday added Pakistan to its blacklist of countries that allegedly violate religious freedom, ramping up pressure on its treatment of minorities. The Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said he had designated Pakistan among "countries of particular concern" in a congressionally mandated annual report, meaning the US government was obliged to exert pressure to end the freedom violations. Pakistan reminded the Trump administration that this was a sad state of affairs that the proponents of human rights worldwide close their eyes to systematic persecution of minorities subjected to alien domination and foreign occupation such as in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “An honest self-introspection would also have been timely to know the causes of exponential rise in Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the US,” the Foreign Office stated.

A US spokesman clarified on Wednesday that although Pakistan remained on the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list, there will be no additional sanctions other than those already placed on Pakistan owing to “national interest”. Pakistan meanwhile added that it is a multi-religious and pluralistic society where people of diverse faiths and denominations live together. Around four percent of the total population comprises citizens belonging to Christian, Hindu, Buddhists and Sikh faiths.

“Ensuring equal treatment of minorities and their enjoyment of human rights without any discrimination is the cardinal principle of the Constitution of Pakistan. Special seats have been reserved for minorities in parliament to ensure their adequate representation and voice in the legislation process”, was the reminder from Islamabad. In this regard, a vibrant and independent National Commission on Human Rights was functioning to address concerns over violation of minorities’ rights. “Successive governments have made it a priority that rights of citizens belonging to minority faiths are protected as guaranteed by the law and the Constitution. The higher judiciary of the country has made several landmark decisions to protect the properties and places of worships of minorities”, pointed out the statement.

As a party to seven out of the nine core human rights treaties, Pakistan is submitting its compliance reports on its obligations with regard to fundamental freedoms. “The Government of Pakistan has devised well-established legal and administrative mechanisms to safeguard the rights of its citizens,” says the Foreign Office. Later the US spokesperson added that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had placed Pakistan on a special watchlist to warn them of their likelihood of being placed on the list of CPC. The Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, then made that determination and identified Pakistan as CPC in the hope that the new leadership would work to improve the situation. Pompeo issued Pakistan a waiver from CPC sanctions as required by the “important national interest of the United States,” said a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua summoned a senior US diplomat to protest placing Pakistan on a list of “countries that violate religious freedom”. “Yes, we did summon the US diplomat after we had issued a detailed press statement rejecting the US State Department's unilateral and politically motivated pronouncement,” a senior official confirmed to The News. The summoning was leaked to the media and there was no official statement on the matter.