Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-07-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last raised with the government of Pakistan the issues of (1) the honour killing of women, (2) the exclusion of minority communities from full citizenship, and (3) the imprisonment of citizens under the blasphemy laws; and what response they received.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We remain concerned by ongoing reports of so-called honour killings, the persecution of minority communities and the misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. We regularly raise human rights with the Government of Pakistan. The former Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), pressed Pakistan to guarantee the rights of all its citizens during his visit to Islamabad in March. He also attended an event to stimulate debate about honour killings. It is encouraging that Pakistan has enacted laws to protect religious minorities. We urge Pakistan to implement this legislation, uphold the rule of law and ensure the rights of all citizens are respected regardless of gender, ethnicity or religious belief.