IANS | 26 Apr, 2024
Pakistan has "categorically" rejected a report by the US State
Department over the human rights violations in the country last year,
saying that only a "politically motivated report can ignore the alarming
situation in Gaza".
"It is deeply concerning that a report
purported to highlight human rights situations around the world ignores
or downplays the most urgent hotspots of gross human rights violations
such as in Gaza," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement
released late Thursday.
Titled "2023 Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices: Pakistan," the contents of the report are unfair,
based on inaccurate information and are completely divorced from the
ground reality, the ministry said.
This year's report is once
again conspicuous by its lack of objectivity and politicization of the
international human rights agenda, it added.
"It clearly demonstrates double standards thus undermining the international human rights discourse," according to the ministry.
Issued
on April 22, the US State Department's report stated that there were no
significant changes in the human rights situation in Pakistan over the
past year.
It said that the Pakistani government intimidates or
seeks reprisal against individuals beyond its borders, including civil
society activists, human rights defenders, and journalists.
The report also claimed that successive Pakistani governments tacitly approved enforced disappearances.
