Pakistan rejects US report on human rights practices

Islamabad, April 26 (IANS) 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.