WASHINGTON, Dec 18: A US official report submitted to Congress on Thursday has accused the Pakistan government of failing to protect the rights of religious minorities in many respects.

“This is due to both public policy and the government’s unwillingness to take action against societal forces hostile to those who practice a different faith,” the report notes.

The report has been released by the State Department’s bureau of democracy, human rights and labour.

It points out that discriminatory religious laws at the national level have added to an atmosphere of religious intolerance, which contributed to acts of violence directed against minority Muslim groups, as well as against Christians, Hindus, and members of Muslim offshoot groups, including the Ahmadis and Zikris.

Reviewing religious freedom in India, the report says that the Indian government at times failed to act effectively to counter societal attacks against religious minorities and attempts by state and local governments to limit religious freedom.

“The ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities in India may be seen by some extremists as a signal that such violence may be committed with impunity,” the report observes.

The report points out by the close of the reporting period, no convictions had been obtained in connection with the 2002 attacks in Gujarat, in which as many as 2,000 Muslims were killed. Victims of the Gujarat riots blamed Hindu nationalists for sabotaging efforts to prosecute Hindus involved in the riots, the report says.

Afghanistan, where the United States still has thousands of troops, is treated lightly. The report only mentions that the US government has urged Afghan officials to include protections to religious freedom in the Constitution they are now working on.

The country treated most harshly by the authors of the report is Saudi Arabia where, the report claims “freedom of religion does not exist.”