Pakistan should be designated among 'countries of particular concern' (CPC) for its "egregious violations" of religious freedom, an independent US commission has said.
Noting that the State Department's current CPC list of nine nation must be expand further, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said severe violations of religious freedom are occurring in Pakistan and seven other other countries.
"The just-released IRF Report leaves no doubt that the egregious nature of the violations in Pakistan warrant a CPC designation. USCIRF urges the State Department to continue the current nine CPC designations," said USCIRF Chairman Robert P George.
"We also urge the State Department to further expand its CPC list to reflect the severe violations occurring in other countries, such as Pakistan, which USCIRF has called the worst situation in the world for religious freedom for countries not currently designated by the US government as CPCs," he said.
The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA) requires the US annually to designate as "countries of particular concern" or CPCs, those governments that "engage in or tolerate" systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom, and to take action to encourage improvements in each CPC country.
In July last year, the State Department under IRFA designated nine nations namely Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as CPCs.
USCIRF's 2015 annual report, released in April, recommended that these countries be re-designated as CPCs, and also called for eight additional designations which include Central African Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, Tajikistan and Vietnam.
USCIRF has welcomed Release of State Department's International Religious Freedom Report and said the next step is to promptly designate the worst violators as CPCs and to press for much-needed reforms in those countries.
State Department's 2014 IRF report said Pakistan "government's general failure to investigate, arrest, or prosecute those responsible for religious freedom abuses promoted an environment of impunity that fostered intolerance and acts of violence, according to domestic and international human rights organisations.
