Government responds to the murder of Meraj Ahmad in Pakistan and to the launch of the APPG Report on the plight of Pakistan’s Ahmadiyyas
The Lord Alton of Liverpool
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
www.gov.uk/fcdo
Our ref: MC2020/16718
22 September 2020
Dear David,
Thank you for your email of 14 August to Baroness Sugg, about the murder of Meraj Ahmad in Pakistan. I am replying as the Minister of State for South Asia and the Minister responsible for Human Rights.
Thank you for sharing the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK’s report.
I spoke at the launch event of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s Report on the 21 July and expressed our concern over the reports of discrimination and
violence against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan. We are also deeply concerned and saddened by the murders of Meraj Ahmed on 12 August and Tahir Ahmad Nassem on 29 July in Peshawar.
In addition, I share the report’s concerns about the anti-Ahmadiyya hate campaign on social media, including the sentiments expressed in the statements by Pakistan’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan, on 29 April.
I was glad to see that Ali Muhammad Khan’s statements were since removed.
We regularly raise with the Government of Pakistan, at senior levels, the importance of religious tolerance and Pakistan’s duty to uphold the rights of all its citizens, regardless of
religious identity.
Most recently, 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. Our High Commissioner to Pakistan, also raised our concerns with Dr Mazari on 8 June.
In addition, I raised the UK Government’s concerns about the protection of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community with
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK, His Excellency Nafees Zakaria, on 12 and 26 May.
We will continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to guarantee the fundamental rights of all its citizens, in accordance with international standards. It is vital that Pakistan guarantees the rights of all its citizens, regardless of gender, ethnicity or belief.
Yours sincerely,
LORD (TARIQ) AHMAD OF WIMBLEDON
Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth
Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict
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