US report on human rights unfair, inaccurate: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: In a very strong rebuttal to the US State Department, the Foreign Office Thursday rejected the recently released 2023 country report on human rights practices related to Pakistan and said the contents of the report were “unfair, based on inaccurate information and were completely divorced from the ground reality”.

“If the US must engage in this exercise, then we expect the US State Department to at least exercise due diligence when conducting assessment of complex issues, demonstrate objectivity, impartiality and responsibility in finalizing such reports. It should demonstrate the requisite moral courage to speak truth about all situations and play a constructive role in supporting international efforts for bringing an end to the atrocities in the most urgent hotpots of gross human rights violations,” said the Foreign Office.

The report of the US State Department notes that Pakistan has been witnessing some significant human rights issues, including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detention among many others.

Rejecting the contents and allegations contained in the report, the Foreign Office said that the State Department’s annual exercises of preparing such unsolicited reports lacked objectivity and remained inherently flawed in their methodology and these reports use a domestic social lens to judge human rights in other countries in a politically biased manner.

“This year’s report is once again conspicuous by its lack of objectivity and politicization of the international human rights agenda. It clearly demonstrates double standards thus undermining the international human rights discourse. 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 and Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir,” retorted the Foreign Office.

It pointed out that only a politically motivated report could ignore the alarming situation in Gaza, weaponization of humanitarian assistance and the massacre of over 33,000 civilians. Silence of the United States on the continuing genocide in Gaza runs counter to the stated objectives behind the so-called country reports on human rights, it added.

It stressed that in line with its constitutional framework and democratic ethos, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to strengthen its own human rights framework, constructively engage to promote international human rights agenda, and uphold fairness and objectivity in the international human rights discourse.