Islamabad, 17 October 2025 — Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yusuf met with British High Commissioner Jane Marriott to discuss strengthening ties and promoting interfaith harmony between Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Sardar Muhammad Yusuf stressed Pakistan’s pride in its rich traditions and cultural heritage and said the country offers the utmost respect for diversity of faith and beliefs.
Sardar Muhammad Yusuf described Pakistan’s relationship with the UK as one the country holds in high regard and said Islamabad looks forward to expanding cooperation in the coming period. He expressed concern about the reported rise in state-backed oppression of Muslims and other minorities in India and emphasised that Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and followers of other faiths living in Pakistan remain an integral part of the country’s social fabric.
The minister outlined Pakistan’s wide-ranging positive measures to increase minority participation across sectors as part of efforts to foster interfaith harmony, noting that over 18,000 madrassas are registered nationwide and that providing modern technical education to their students is a pressing need. He highlighted initiatives under the Prime Minister Youth Programme to equip madrassa students with technical skills and vocational training to enhance future opportunities.
British High Commissioner Jane Marriott noted the sizeable Muslim and Hindu communities in the UK, citing approximately 2 million Muslims and 1.7 million Hindus, and said Pakistan and the UK can learn from each other’s experiences to promote interfaith harmony. She offered UK support to help provide modern technical education and skills training to students in UK-linked madrasas and suggested that exchange programmes and scholarships for madrassa graduates could be developed to strengthen educational ties.
Both sides agreed to deepen cooperation to eliminate extremism and to work together to advance interfaith harmony, leveraging educational exchange, skills development and shared policy experience to build more inclusive societies in Pakistan and the UK.
