Islamabad, Pakistan - Pakistan rejected efforts by a US Congress-mandated commission to include the Islamic nation on a blacklist of countries that violate religious freedoms.
"These accusations are baseless," Pakistan's information minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP while the foreign office said the country was fully committed to protecting the rights of minorities.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom Wednesday said it had written to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice seeking the inclusion of Pakistan, as well as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, in the government's list of "countries of particular concern".
The Commission has accused the Pakistani government of "not providing an adequate response" to vigilante violence frequently perpetrated by Sunni Muslim militants against the Shiite and Ahmadi Muslims as well as Hindus and Christians, and of formulating "discriminatory legislation".
Belated efforts to curb extremism through reform of Pakistan's thousands of Islamic religious schools appear to have had little effect so far, the commission said.
However, Rashid said Pakistan guaranteed religious freedoms and had granted special rights to minority communities which included the right to vote in their own local communities as well as in general elections.
"The report presents a distorted picture of the situation in Pakistan," a foreign office spokesman said in a separate statement.
Freedom of religion or belief is recognized as a fundamental right in Pakistan and enforced through appropriate legislation, he said.
"All citizens of Pakistan irrespective of their religious beliefs enjoy complete freedom of expression and there is absolutely no discrimination," the spokesman said, stressing that the government of Pakistan was "fully committed to protect the rights of minorities".
The State Department annually blacklists countries for alleged religious freedom violations based on recommendations from the commission, whose 10 members are jointly appointed by
President George W. Bush and Congress.
Countries face government sanctions on various fronts 180 days after being included in the blacklist.