US slams attacks on Pak Hindus
WASHINGTON: The US condemned terrorist and violent attacks against minority Hindus in Pakistan and communist China’s “hostility” towards its people of all faiths.
Launching an International Religious Freedom Alliance of 27 countries, which US officials said will be an “activist club” that will aggressively push religious freedom issues, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo took aim at persecution of and violent attacks on religious minorities in several countries.
“We condemn terrorists and violent extremists who target religious minorities, whether they are Yezidis in Iraq, Hindus in Pakistan, Christians in northeast Nigeria, or Muslims in Burma,” he said at a dinner he hosted for members of the alliance here on Wednesday.
The top US diplomat also condemned “blasphemy and apostasy laws that criminalise matters of the soul”.
He did not name any country, but Pakistan is among a handful of countries that aggressively enforce blasphemy laws, which carry sentences ranging from life in jail to execution. Victims have been mostly Muslims and Ahmediyya sect (who are not considered Muslims by Pakistan) as well as minority Christians and Hindus.
There are an estimated 1.4 million Hindus in Pakistan and they have been targeted by terrorists and violent extremists, and discriminated against socially. The state offers them little protection, along with other minorities. A state department report on religious freedom in Pakistan said in 2019 that bonded labour in the brick-making industry and in agriculture were“predominantly” hindus and Christians.
A growing number of these persecuted Hindus head to India. The Modi government enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act, that makes it easier for persecuted Hindus from any of the neighbouring countries to seek refuge in India, and settle down as citizens.
Pakistan has been on US radar for religious freedom violations for a long time, as well as for human rights and, with the most expansive implications for the rest of the world, its continued support for terrorism. The US re-designated Pakistan as one of “countries of particular concern” last December for “systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations of religious freedom”.
On China, secretary Pompeo said, “We condemn the Chinese Communist Party’s hostility to all faiths.” He went on to commend the partners for “courageously” pushing back against Chinese pressure to participate in the alliance.