US envoy for religious freedom foresees changes in Pakistan, KSA, UAE

The US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Republican Senator Sam Brownback has noted desire of Pakistan to change and also lauded steps taken by the United Arab Emirates and promises made by Saudi Arabia on the laws and policy that US-led West dislikes.

President Donald Trump picked Mr Brownback to serve as the US ambassador-at-large for religious freedom in 2017, though he only became ambassador in 2018. He had faced criticism from Democrats and LGBT groups over rescinding an order as governor that barred discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Kansas.
He said far more needs to be done in those countries to promote and protect the right to choose one’s faith, an indication of conversion of Muslims to other religions.
On a tour of a Middle East, the US envoy said that Pakistan has a desire to change its ways and be removed from an American blacklist of countries that infringe on religious freedoms. He said he travelled to Pakistan to discuss Islamabad being newly placed on the blacklist, which can lead to a country facing economic sanctions.
Mr Brownback, a Republican who served in the US Senate and later as the governor of Kansas for two terms, said he met Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who promised to appoint a point person to handle the US concerns.
“They’ve had a lot of difficulties as a nation on this topic on religious freedom so what I was there for was to talk about changing,” Mr Brownback said.
Pakistan, home to some 200 million people, has blasphemy laws that carry death sentence for convicts.
The US put Pakistan on its religious freedom blacklist in December, though US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held back on imposing sanctions on Islamabad.