Pakistan has rejected being blacklisted as a violator of religious freedoms by the United States.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Tuesday 11 December said that Pakistan was joining several countries - including Saudi Arabia, China and North Korea - on a list of nations that have "engaged in or tolerated systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom".
Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) issued a reaction, claiming the pronouncement as “politically motivated” and suggesting the United States introspect over what the FO spokesperson called the "exponential rise" of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in America.