Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Pakistani counterpart on the (a) right to vote and (b) other civil rights of the Ahmadi Muslim community in that country.

We engage at a senior level with the Pakistani Government on our concerns about the mistreatment of religious and ethnic groups, including Pakistanis from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the fundamental rights of all its citizens, as laid down in the constitution of Pakistan and in accordance with international standards. It is vital that Pakistan guarantees the rights of all its citizens, regardless of gender, ethnicity or belief. The Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, who is also the Minister responsible for human rights, raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of the Ahmadiyya community in a letter to Pakistan's Human Rights Minister, Dr Shireen Mazari, on 27 February.