A report released by the US cited Pakistan, besides nine others, as a country failing to sufficiently protect religious rights. The other nine included in the State Department’s International Religious Freedom report for the second half of 2010 were Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
The report also named eight countries – China, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Uzbekistan – a list unchanged since 2009, as “countries of particular concern” regarding religious freedom. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged governments to do more to defend religious freedom. “We reaffirm the role that religious freedom play in building stable and harmonious societies. Hatred is destabilising,” Clinton said.
