To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Pakistan about the abuse of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and ways in which to prevent such abuse.
Answered on
8 July 2019
We regularly raise our concerns about the misuse of the blasphemy laws with the Pakistani Government at a senior level. I raised our concerns about Freedom of Religion or Belief and the protection of minority religious communities with Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights, Dr Shireen Mazari, during my visit to Islamabad in February 2019. At the UN Universal Periodic Review of Pakistan in November 2017, the UK pressed Pakistan to strengthen the protection of minorities and to explain the steps being taken to tackle the abuse of the blasphemy laws.