Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the human rights situation of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan.

The UK Government is monitoring the issue of discrimination and violence against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and religious minorities in Pakistan closely. Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South Asia and the Minister responsible for Human Rights, has spoken out publicly to strongly condemn targeted killings of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan, including the murder of Kamran Ahmad in Peshawar on 9 November. Lord Ahmad discussed the need to promote respect for all religions when he met the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, on 28 November. During his visit to Pakistan on 22 and 23 June, Lord Ahmad raised the treatment of minorities, including Ahmadi Muslims, with Prime Minister Imran Khan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Federal Minister of Human Rights Shireen Mazari. He also raised the use of cybercrime laws against members of the Ahmadi community with Advisor to the Prime Minister on Accountability and Interior, Shahzad Akbar. In addition to his meetings with the Government of Pakistan, Lord Ahmad met with representatives of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community and took part in an interfaith roundtable to better understand the concerns of Pakistan's minorities. Pakistan is one of the FCDO's human rights priority countries and Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is an integral part of our engagement on human rights. In July 2022 the UK will host an international Ministerial Conference to Advance FoRB in London.