Bill or declaring Diwali as a holiday is merely an eye wash as there is no concrete move from the government of the day to address the concerns of the religious minorities in Pakistan.
"It's wonderful if the Prime Minister celebrates Christmas or Diwali, but why did his party give tickets for known sectarian murderers? There have been articles on this. There have been books on this. This is not me saying it," she noted.
"This is my feeling, that until and unless Pakistanis themselves get up and reject, reject the hatred of the other and start understanding that people who are not of their faith are equal citizens of Pakistan, till those bills, till the Ahmadis, until all of the other minorities are not publicly and constitutionally allowed to reassert themselves as equal citizens of Pakistan, I think of all of this as eyewash and window dressing," she said.
Ispahani said that the United States has "chosen to ignore" the human dimension in Pakistan over and over again because of its strategic and military importance.
"Unfortunately, no matter what Pakistan's neighbours say, no matter what critics of the state of Pakistan say, the United States till this day has never stood by the people of Pakistan.
"They only stand by the state of Pakistan," she said.
"President (Donald) Trump sounds like he is a tough man, and I sincerely hope and believe that he will take the right path," said the top Pakistani scholar who now spend her time in the US.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
