ISLAMABAD, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has outrightly rejected the U.S. State Department's report on religious freedom, saying that unilateral reports assessing other countries' human rights situations are not free from political bias and present an incomplete and distorted picture.
The methodology adopted in preparing these reports and the mandate and expertise of its authors are not transparent, spokesperson for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said here on Thursday during a weekly media briefing.
Releasing the 2023 International Religious Freedom Report last week, the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken referred to the blasphemy laws in Pakistan as something that "help foster a climate of intolerance and hatred that can lead to vigilantes and mob violence."
Pakistan "categorically" rejects the baseless assertions, Baloch said.
"We believe that international religious freedom cannot be viewed from the lens of any single country's social and legal perspective," said the spokesperson. ■
