Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential implications for her Department’s human rights priorities of recent attacks against Ahmadi Muslims in the Punjab province in Pakistan.

We are concerned by incidents of violence against religious minorities in Pakistan and continue to monitor the situation. I raised my concern over violence against the Ahmadiyya community in a meeting with Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister in August. Our High Commission in Islamabad regularly raises the persecution of Ahmadi Muslims with the Government of Pakistan at the highest levels, and has raised the recent attack at Baitul Mahdi Mosque in Rabwah with Pakistan's Human Rights Minister. On the international stage, the UK continues to highlight Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) violations and abuses through our position at the UN, G7 and as an active member of the Article 18 Alliance, ensuring joint international action on FoRB.