The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry on 2016-07-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the current level of violence against Hindus in Pakistan.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We remain concerned by ongoing reports of the persecution of the Hindu community in Pakistan. These include incidents of abduction, forced conversion and the forced marriage of Hindu women to Muslim men. We regularly raise our concerns about the treatment of religious minorities, including Hindus, with the Government of Pakistan. The former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), pressed Pakistan to guarantee the rights of all its citizens, including minority religious communities, during his visit to Islamabad in March. We continue to urge Pakistan to honour in practice its human rights obligations, including on freedom of religion or belief, and to uphold the rule of law.