Pakistan rejects biased assertions of US Religious Freedom Report

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday  rejected US Religious Freedom Report, calling  it  biased in a statement issued by Foreign Ministry   .The statement said the report's segment on Pakistan is a  compendium of unsubstantiated and biased assertions."We do not support such national reports making observations on the internal affairs of sovereign States," said the statement.It said Pakistan has always played a positive role and engaged the international community including the United States with a view to have better and mutual understanding of the issue of religious freedoms, which are under stress around the world.It said Pakistan is of the view that all countries are obliged to promote religious harmony and have a duty to protect their citizens in accordance with national laws and international norms.Pakistan said a glaring discriminatory aspect of the report is that it has ignored the systematic persecution of minorities, particularly Muslims, in India, which are subjected to alien domination and foreign occupation such as in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.It also said Pakistan has often raised its own concerns internationally including with the Western governments and the US over the growing trend of Islamophobia in their own countries.