Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to respond to the representations made to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office by the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community about the murder of Professor Naeem Ud Din Khattak; and what representations they intend to make, if any, to the Pakistan High Commissioner to seek regular updates of the investigation into that murder.

We are concerned and saddened by the murder of Dr Naeemuddin Khattak on 5 October in Peshawar. The British High Commission in Islamabad will continue to monitor the case closely. The UK remains deeply concerned by reports of discrimination and violence against religious communities in Pakistan, including against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. I spoke at the launch event of the APPG for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's Report on the 21 July. I expressed the UK's deep concern regarding discrimination and violence against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. We engage at a senior level with the Government of Pakistan on the mistreatment of religious and ethnic groups, including from the Ahmadiyya Muslim community.

On 27 August, I raised our concerns regarding Freedom of Religion of Belief and the protection of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan with Pakistan's Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari. I also raised Freedom of Religion or Belief concerns with the Governor of Punjab, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, on 8 September and with Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, on 8 October.