LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Senator Sirajul Haq condemned on Wednesday US decision placing Pakistan on black list for lack of religious freedom and called it the worst example of US bias and hostility towards Pakistan.

The JI chief said minorities enjoyed full constitutional freedom to practice their religion in Pakistan but Muslims in America and European countries were being denied religious rights and the US was patronising anti-Muslim activities all over the world.

Mr Haq said the US was a hurdle in solution to the Palestine and Kashmir issues although the Amnesty International and several other human right bodies in their reports mentioned the genocide of the Muslims in these areas.

He said that even in the US, Muslim children and innocent women were being maltreated and tortured on the basis of religious bias. Muslim women were being publicly attacked and ridiculed and their veils and scarves removed by force but no action was taken against the offenders.

JI deputy chief Farid Ahmed Piracha said Pakistan’s constitution granted full protection to the minorities and allowed them freedom to practice their religion. He added the judiciary was protecting the minorities rights. On the other hand, he said, in the US itself, basic human rights were being denied and the US had committed the greatest state terrorism in human history. He urged the Pakistan government to reject the US pressure on this score.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2018