ISLAMABAD: Islamabad on Thursday rejected Washington’s “arbitrary and selective assessment” under a domestic legislation on religious freedom and its designation of Pakistan as a “country of particular concern,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said he was designating Russia, as well as China and eight other states, as countries of concern “for having engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
The other countries on the US list for “religious freedom violations” included Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Algeria, Comoros, Cuba and Nicaragua were placed on a watch list.
In its response, a Pakistani foreign office spokesman said the classification was against the ground realities.
“The designation of Pakistan as a ‘country of particular concern’ is completely against the realities on the ground and raises serious doubts about the credibility of this exercise,” foreign office spokesman Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said during the weekly press briefing in Islamabad.
He said Pakistan and the US had been constructively engaging on the subject at the bilateral level, a fact regrettably overlooked by the US.
“Pakistani society is multi-religious and pluralistic with a rich tradition of inter-faith harmony,” he said. “Religious freedom and the protection of the rights of minorities are guaranteed by our constitution and ensured through a range of legislative, policy and administrative measures.”
The spokesman said such “subjective designations” did not contribute toward promoting the cause of religious freedom worldwide.
Earlier in the first week on November, US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its annual report said that “in 2020, religious freedom conditions in Pakistan continued to worsen.”
In one of its key findings in the report, the USCIRF said that influential groups [in Pakistan] actively promoted “hate speech and incitement to violence against religious minorities” via digital platforms and public sermons.
Islamabad rejects Washington’s ‘selective assessment’ of religious freedom in Pakistan
https://arab.news/6f73c
Islamabad rejects Washington’s ‘selective assessment’ of religious freedom in Pakistan
- United States on Wednesday designated Pakistan among 10 states as ‘countries of particular concern’
- Classification ‘regrettably overlooked’ Pakistan-US constructive engagement on subject, Islamabad says
Pakistan says it seized 32 square kilometers inside Afghanistan as border clashes escalate
- Security official describes ‘limited tactical action’ in Gudwana after Afghan assaults
- Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants as UN, China and Russia urge restraint
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seized a 32-square-kilometer area inside Afghanistan following overnight fighting, a security official said on Saturday, as cross-border clashes between the two countries escalated sharply.
A Pakistani security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said troops carried out a “limited tactical action” in the Gudwana area opposite the Zhob sector along the frontier, capturing Afghan territory after responding to attacks on Pakistani positions.
“On the night of Feb. 26/27, posts opposite the Zhob sector launched anticipated physical attacks on multiple Pakistani positions,” the official said, referring to fighters linked to Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, whom Islamabad identifies as Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA).
“In response to aggressive unprovoked fire and physical attacks, Pakistan security forces launched a limited tactical action on the night of Feb. 27/28 in the general area of Gudwana with a view to capture TTA Tahir Post,” he continued, adding that 32 square kilometers of Afghan territory were seized.
The official said special combat teams crossed the border after preparatory bombardment, supported by intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets providing “real-time battlefield awareness.”
He said 24 Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 37 wounded, with no Pakistani casualties reported.
The claims could not be independently verified, and there was no immediate confirmation from Taliban authorities in Kabul of any territorial loss in the Gudwana area.
The latest clashes erupted after Pakistani airstrikes targeted what Islamabad described as militant hideouts inside Afghanistan over the weekend, triggering retaliatory fire along the frontier and sharply escalating long-running tensions. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering Pakistani Taliban militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, an allegation that Afghanistan denies.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Saturday evening that 352 Afghan Taliban fighters had been killed and more than 535 wounded since the latest phase of hostilities began.
Tarar said Pakistani strikes had destroyed 130 check posts, 171 tanks and armored vehicles and targeted 41 locations across Afghanistan by air. Those figures could not be independently verified.
The United Nations, as well as China and Russia, have called for restraint.
The United States said Pakistan has the right to defend itself against cross-border militancy.
