Pakistan terms US human rights report 'inaccurate, politically biased'

Pakistan has rubbished the "2023 Country Report on Human Rights Practices" issued by the United States (US) State Department, criticising that such reports "use a domestic social lens to judge human rights in other countries in a politically biased manner".

"This year’s report is once again conspicuous by its lack of objectivity and politicisation of the international human rights agenda," Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement on Thursday.

"The US State Department’s annual exercises of preparing such unsolicited reports lack objectivity and remain inherently flawed in their methodology," she said, adding, "It clearly demonstrates double standards thus undermining the international human rights discourse."

Pointing out the US "double standards" on grave humanitarian issues, Baloch said: "It is deeply concerning that a report purported to highlight human rights situations around the world ignores or downplays the most urgent hotspots of gross human rights violations such as in Gaza and Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK)."

Only a politically motivated report, she said, could ignore the alarming situation in Gaza, the weaponisation of humanitarian assistance and the massacre of over 33,000 civilians. "Silence of the United States on the continuing genocide in Gaza runs counter to the stated objectives behind the so-called country reports on human rights."

In line with its constitutional framework and democratic ethos, Pakistan remains steadfast in its commitment to strengthen its own human rights framework, constructively engage to promote international human rights agenda, and uphold fairness and objectivity in the international human rights discourse, the spokesperson reiterated.

"If the US must engage in this exercise, then we expect the US State Department to at least exercise due diligence when conducting an assessment of complex issues, demonstrate objectivity, impartiality and responsibility in finalising such reports," according to an official statement issued by the FO.

"It should demonstrate the requisite moral courage to speak the truth about all situations and play a constructive role in supporting international efforts for bringing an end to atrocities in the most urgent hotpots of gross human rights violations," it concluded.