Pakistan has told Britain that Salman Rushdie's knighthood breaches a United Nations resolution aimed at calming tensions between different religions, The Observer has learnt. The highly unusual warning was made during a meeting with the British High Commissioner in Pakistan and reveals the extent to which senior Pakistani politicians fear the award will damage relations between the countries.Pakistan’s approach to religious tolerance is set out in the latest report from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are a particular focus for concern as they are often used “by extremists to intimidate members of religious minorities and others with whom they disagree.”
“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are inherently arbitrary, and they de facto restrict freedom of speech and other freedoms guaranteed by international human rights norms,” said Felice D. Gaer, Commission Chair. “These insidious laws lend themselves to misuse and abuse, resulting frequently in severe violations of freedom of religion or belief in Pakistan.”[For more on the discrimination faced by Ahmadis in Pakistan see here.]
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The blasphemy laws are one of the many ways in which the government of Pakistan severely violates the internationally guaranteed right to religious freedom. Other abuses include the laws violating the rights of the Ahmadi community, the persistent sectarian violence targeting Shi’as, Christians, Ahmadis, and Hindus, and the Hudood ordinances, which violate the rights of women in Pakistan.
Hmm, maybe I've got it wrong but it doesn’t look like Pakistan is overly interested in calming tensions between different religions.
