FM criticizes US’s discriminatory approach to Religious Freedom.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has criticized the United States’ decision to include Pakistan in the list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious freedom, questioning why India was not included.
Washington designated Pakistan, along with 11 other states, including Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea, as having engaged in or allowed exceptionally egregious breaches of religious freedom, in November.
It appears that this is a pretty distorted and politically-biased list, according to the minister, as stated in an interview with Channel News Asia during his official visit to Singapore.
US religious freedom violators listing biased, politicised: Bilawal@BBhuttoZardari has rejected the listing of Pakistan as a state of “particular concern” over religious freedoms by the United States
https://t.co/cxl0xzcHjI— Syed Ahsan Abbas Rizvi (@AhsanAbbasShah) December 15, 2022
Nevertheless, he expressed concern over why India isn’t on the list, despite its human rights violations, notably the lack of religious freedom for its Muslim citizens, which has been a subject of concern worldwide.
Another US ally in the Middle East that maintains restrictions on its Muslim minority and Palestine did not appear on the list, the minister noted, alluding to Israel.
However, he acknowledged Pakistan’s long history of religious extremism and bloodshed and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to addressing them.
He stressed that the issue of terrorism and religious extremism in Pakistan is very important to him and that the country does not need reminders from anyone in this regard.
He denounced India’s ‘fascism’, claiming that the nation has a long history of violence against minorities.
India was a secular democracy that welcomed all of its inhabitants, including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists.
Unfortunately, India is no more the tolerant country that it once was.
It is antagonistic to Muslims both outside and inside its borders, and it is hostile to Christians within its frontiers as well.
