Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks very much to all of you for taking the time to come to educate Parliament with the truth about what is happening to religious minorities in your countries of origin. This has been extremely helpful.
Mr. Mahdi, I know the Ahmadiyya community has from time to time been quite cautious about raising publicly in countries outside of Pakistan concerns about the persecution of Ahmadis in Pakistan, for the prudential reason of not provoking whatever regime was in power there at the time. But it seems to me there's been a recent shift, somewhat, in the tone from you and the community. As you know, I discussed the matter with Khalifa Mirza Masroor Ahmad in London last year.
Could you explain to me whether there has been a decision to become more outspoken, thereby emboldening us as Canadians to act as stronger advocates for the Ahmadiyya community in Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere? That's one question.
I have a similar question for my friends from the Coptic community. I know that Copts live in a very delicate relationship with the Egyptian government and that Pope Shenouda and authorities in the Coptic church are very careful about how they express publicly their concerns regarding the situation of your co-religionists in Egypt. Could you comment a little bit on that issue?
I think it might be a little misleading to some foreign governments and some parliamentarians that we don't hear this kind of robust advocacy of the rights of the Copts in Egypt, because people in Egypt are to a certain extent compromised by their delicate situation. I wonder whether you could comment on that.