Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Pakistani counterpart on the persecution of Christians in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about the persecution of religious and other minorities in Pakistan, including Christians. In August, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised religious freedom and human rights with Interior Minister Nisar. In June, I conveyed our concern about minorities in Pakistan to the Pakistani High Commissioner to the UK.

We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to meet its international obligations to uphold the human rights of all its citizens. Our concerns about minorities in Pakistan are documented in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office annual Human Rights Report.