LAHORE: Representatives of various Muslim schools of thought and of minority religions have rejected the US report on religious freedom in Pakistan.

In a statement issued here on Friday, leadership of Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC), and representatives of different Muslim schools of thought as well as of religious minorities stated that the US Department of State’s report was baseless.

They said followers of different divine religions were enjoying complete freedom as defined in the Constitution of Pakistan. They categorically stated that there was no discriminatory law against Ahmedis in the country.

PUC chairman Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi, Pastor Amanuel Khokar, Pastor Shahid Maraj, Bishop Dr Azad Marshal, Father James Chunnon, Sardar Bishon Singh, Prof Abdul Rahman Khan, Allama Ziaullah Shah Bukhari, Mufti Muhammad Ali Naqshbandi, and Maulana Aseedur Rehman rejected the report saying it was based on misleading information, in complete negation of the reality.

They lamented that the US turned a blind eye to the minorities’ situation in India, where no religious minority is safe.

All saner Indian souls are on roads against the newly implemented controversial citizenship laws for minorities in India but the world community is overlooking the facts, they added.

Sikh community’s Golden Temple and Babri Masjid of Muslims were damaged while more than 200 churches were put on fire in India and India-held Kashmir had been facing lockdown for the last four consecutive months but no world power was paying heed to the distress being faced by the people.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019