Yangon, Myanmar - Myanmar's military government on Saturday rejected charges by the United States that it restricts religious activities, saying all citizens are granted freedom of worship.
The allegations, leveled in a recent U.S. State Department report, were politically motivated, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department designated Myanmar as a "country of particular concern" in its annual Report on International Religious Freedom, issued Sept. 15.
The report said the junta continued to "infiltrate and covertly and overtly monitor meetings and activities of virtually all organizations, including religious organizations" and systematically restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom.
"Christian and Islamic groups continued to have trouble obtaining permission to repair existing places of worship or build new ones in most regions. Anti-Muslim violence continued, as did the close monitoring of Muslims' activities," the report said.
The ministry rebuttal, carried in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, said the allegations were unjustified. It said all Myanmar citizens were allowed to profess their beliefs, and no serious problems existed among religions in Myanmar.
The United States has led world criticism of the Myanmar regime, accusing it of human rights violations and repression of the country's pro-democracy movement, headed by detained Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.