Diplomatic sources said that a demarche was handed to the US official, which elaborated on constitutional rights of religious minorities in Pakistan. It added that Pakistan did not need counsel by any country on how to protect the rights of its minorities. Pakistan remains country of ‘particular concern’; no sanctions due to ‘national interest’: USPakistan’s reaction came in response to the release of the congressionally-mandated annual religious freedom report issued by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Tuesday. “Pakistan does not need counsel by any individual country [on] how to protect the rights of its minorities,” it said. The statement said that Pakistan was a multi-religious and pluralistic society where people of diverse faiths and denominations lived together.

Source: The Express Tribune December 12, 2018 13:42 UTC