Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department holds information on allegations that the Pubjab Police did not protect Patras Masih from attack by Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party extremists in Shahdara, Lahore on 19 February 2018; and if he will make a statement.

We remain deeply concerned by the blatant misuse of the blasphemy laws and the treatment of minority religious communities in Pakistan. While we are aware of reports of this distressing case, we hold no specific information and have not made an assessment.

We routinely raise our concerns about the misuse of the blasphemy laws and the protection of minority communities with the Government of Pakistan at a senior level. During my visit to Pakistan in November 2017, I raised the treatment of religious minorities, including discrimination against the Christian and Ahmadiyya communities, with the Ministry of Human Rights. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Mr Johnson), discussed religious tolerance and misuse of the blasphemy laws during his visit to Pakistan in November 2016. The Minister for Human Rights, Lord Ahmad, raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Interior Minister, Ahsan Iqbal, in February 2018. At the UN Universal Periodic Review of Pakistan in November 2017, the UK pressed Pakistan to strengthen the protection of minorities and to explain the steps being taken to tackle the abuse of the blasphemy laws.