Pakistan has strongly criticised and rejected the "2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices" released by the United States (US) State Department, labelling it as "inaccurate" and "politically biased."
In a statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan denounced the report for its alleged lack of objectivity and its tendency to judge human rights in other countries through a domestic social lens.
According to Baloch, the US State Department's annual human rights reports are flawed in methodology and exhibit double standards, undermining the international human rights discourse.
The spokesperson highlighted the report's failure to address grave humanitarian issues such as the situation in Gaza and the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), accusing the US of turning a blind eye to urgent hotspots of gross human rights violations.
Baloch emphasised that only a politically motivated report would ignore the dire circumstances in Gaza, including the weaponization of humanitarian assistance and the alleged massacre of over 33,000 civilians.
Pakistan expressed disappointment over the US's silence on what it terms as the "continuing genocide" in Gaza, asserting that such silence contradicts the stated objectives of the country reports on human rights.
Asserting Pakistan's commitment to strengthening its own human rights framework and engaging constructively in promoting the international human rights agenda, the spokesperson called on the US State Department to exercise due diligence and objectivity in future assessments.
Pakistan expects the US to demonstrate moral courage in speaking truthfully about all situations and to play a constructive role in addressing gross human rights violations worldwide.
