asked Her Majesty's Government:

What information they have received about attacks on members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Sri Lanka during the month of Ramadan.[HL7881]

The death of Abdullah Niaz, a member of an Ahmadiyya community in Negombo, a primarily Catholic area 30 kilometres north of Colombo, has been reported in the Ahmadiyya community media recently. We have not so far been able to confirm the circumstances or accuracy of these reports. Prior to this report we had not been aware of any harassment of the Ahmadiyya community in Sri Lanka. We understand that of Sri Lanka's minority Muslim population, 98 per cent follow the Sunni branch of Islam. The Ahmadiyya community would form a minority of the remaining 2 per cent of Sri Lankan Muslims who follow other branches of Islam.