Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he has taken to support girls who have been subject to forced conversions and marriages in Sindh, Pakistan.

The UK Government strongly condemns the forced marriage and forced conversion of women and girls from religious minorities in Pakistan. We regularly raise our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief, women and girls' rights and gender equality with the Government of Pakistan at a senior level. Most recently, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State for South Asia and the Minister responsible for Human Rights, raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 16 November.

In addition, the British High Commission in Islamabad meets frequently with minority religious communities in Pakistan to understand the pressures they face. We also engage with the Parliamentary Committee on Forced Conversions, the Council of Islamic Ideology, and civil society organisations to influence awareness and policy on these issues, including in Sindh.