YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar's military government on Monday dismissed as politically motivated U.S. allegations that it restricts religious freedom.
The Foreign Ministry claimed some information in the U.S. State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report "came from insurgent groups or unscrupulous persons with the aim of damaging the image of Myanmar."
Myanmar was classified along with five other countries the report said were guilty of totalitarian or authoritarian attempts to control religious belief or practice. The others were China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam.
"This classification does not in any way represent the true situation in the country," the ministry said in a press release.
The report, issued last week, said that people can worship officially recognized religions as they please in Myanmar, but that the government infiltrates or monitors virtually all organizations, including religious ones, and discriminates against minorities.
"It systematically has restricted efforts by Buddhist clergy to promote human rights and political freedom, has discouraged or prohibited minority religions from constructing new places of worship, and, in some ethnic minority areas, has coercively promoted Buddhism over other religions," the report said.
Denying all these charges, the Foreign Ministry said the allegations "are groundless and they must be considered as being politically motivated and represent an attempt to exert pressure and interfere in the internal affairs of the country."
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, but it also has Muslim, Christian and Hindu minorities. The military has ruled the country since 1962 and has faced tough criticism from the United States and other Western countries for its poor human rights record and ignoring its defeat in a democratic election in 1990.