Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to ensure that UK military goods exported to Pakistan are not used (a) in military operations in Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and (b) by internal security forces or the intelligence services to monitor the activities of (i) political activists, (ii) human rights defenders and (iii) peaceful civilians in that country.

We assess all arms export licence applications for Pakistan, like other countries, against the Consolidated EU & National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. These provide a thorough risk assessment framework. We will not grant a licence if to do so would be inconsistent with these Criteria, for example where there is a clear risk that the items might be used for internal repression or in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. We also consider if there is a risk that the items will be diverted to an undesirable end-user or for an undesirable end-use. We keep the situation under constant review. Extant licences can be revoked at any time if the situation changes and those licences are no longer assessed as being consistent with the licensing criteria.

Pakistan is one of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office's ‘human rights priority countries’. We are active in promoting respect for the rule of law, including through projects financed by the Conflict, Stability & Security Fund.