Pakistan slams U.S. panel report on religious freedom

ISLAMABAD, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Thursday slammed the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, saying that it is based on "faulty assumptions."

The commission's 2024 Annual Report released earlier this month was "based on unsubstantiated allegations and non-reflective of the ground realities in Pakistan," spokesperson of Pakistan's Foreign Ministry Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said here during a weekly media briefing.

Pakistan believes that USCIRF's annual exercise of designating countries is unwarranted and futile, the spokesperson said.

"Such arbitrary designations also undermine the objective of fostering understanding and cooperation, which can only be achieved through dialogue and constructive engagement," she added.