PAKISTAN: The EU should suspend the GSP+ privileges. Why? No human rights progress in September/ October
The bad deal EU-Pakistan “Trade privileges in exchange of human rights progress” called the GSP+ should be suspended as long as there is no substantial human rights progress.
HRWF (03.11.2025) – For a decade, Pakistan has been benefiting from a privileged access (reduced or zero duties) to the about 450 million consumers of the EU market. In this framework, Pakistan’s products enter the EU market with 0% duties across approximately 2/3 of all EU tariff lines. From 2014 to 2022, Pakistan’s exports to the EU almost doubled, from 8.3 billion EUR to almost 15 billion EUR.
In exchange, Pakistan pledged to sign and implement 27 international treaties regarding labour rights, good governance and human rights. This EU scheme is known as the GSP+.
Since the inception of this agreement, Pakistan has failed to demonstrate tangible progress on the implementation of international human rights standards.
This is in addition to our monthly reports about the violations of religious freedom in March, April, May, June, July and August 2025.
Panorama of religious freedom issues in September-October
Moves to curb Pakistan’s blasphemy law surface
Morning Star News (27.10.2025) – A massive crackdown on an Islamist religious-political party and an announcement by Pakistan’s law minister suggest authorities have resolved to make procedural changes to controversial blasphemy laws, sources said.
The goal of such changes would be to prevent people from being falsely accused of blasphemy, which in Pakistan is punishable by death if Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is insulted.
Blasphemy and accusations of the crime have led to the extrajudicial killings of dozens of people in Pakistan since 1990.
Pakistan court dismisses plea for minority judges
UCA NEWS (24.10.2025) – None of the nation’s five high courts have non-Muslim judges and only four judges are female.
A court in Pakistan has dismissed a petition seeking the appointment of judges in regional high courts from religious minority groups, prompting minority leaders, rights activists and judicial experts to call for affirmative action.
Chief Justice Aalia Neelum of the Lahore High Court in Punjab province dismissed the petition filed by Naseeb Masih, a Christian lawyer, on Oct. 21.
The judge ruled that the court had no jurisdiction to decide on the matter.
Neelum became the first female chief justice of Lahore High Court last year.
In the petition filed on Oct. 2, Masih argued that despite the constitution allocating a five percent job quota for minorities, no judges from religious minority groups have been appointed to a high court for years.
Pakistan’s hybrid legal system: Negotiated coexistence of secular and Islamic law
Canopy Forum (17.10.2025) – The Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s legal system presents a distinctive pluralistic model, intertwining secular common law inherited from British colonial rule with Islamic jurisprudence, or fiqh, under a single constitutional framework.
The 1973 Constitution declares Islam as the state religion and mandates that all laws conform to Islamic injunctions while also safeguarding fundamental rights. This article traces the historical evolution of this hybrid framework, examining the institutional mechanisms through which Pakistan reconciles the competing demands of secular and Islamic law, with particular focus on the judiciary, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), and the Shariat Appellate Bench (SAB).
Punjab: Parents demand justice for 17-year-old girl who goes missing after ‘conversion’ to Islam
Asia News (14.10.2025) – In Khushab District, a Christian family reports growing threats and the forced conversion to Islam of their 17-year-old daughter. The girl was taken by the police and then went missing from state custody. The Edge Foundation is assisting the parents, now hiding for fear of retaliation, and is preparing an appeal to the Lahore High Court. This case is emblematic of the persecution affecting religious minorities in Pakistan.
In another chilling reminder of the growing threat facing religious minorities in Pakistan, a Christian family in a remote village in Khushab District (Punjab) was the latest victim of coercion, intimidation, and the alleged kidnapping of their 17-year-old daughter, under the pretext of religious conversion to Islam.
Pakistan slammed for delay in forming minorities commission
UCA NEWS (13.10.2025) – Leaders from Christian and Hindu communities have criticized Pakistani authorities for their failure to form a commission to protect the rights of religious minorities despite nearly five months after the parliament passed a related law.
Pakistan’s parliament passed the National Commission for Minorities’ Rights Bill 2025 on May 12.
The law was hailed as a landmark move to safeguard the rights of minorities in a country criticized for violations of religious freedom.
In a report released on Oct. 10, the Catholic bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) expressed disappointment over the limbo.
The report titled “Thousands of Slips Stand Guard” cited administrative hurdles and political apathy as major causes for the delay in forming the proposed 30-member minorities commission.
Terrorist attack on Ahmadi Muslim mosque in Rabwah leaves five Ahmadis injured
Stop the Persecution (10.10.2025) – On 10 October, several terrorists launched a targeted armed attack on the Bait-ul-Mahdi Mosque in Rabwah, in Punjab, Pakistan. The assault occurred immediately after the congregational Friday Prayers.
According to eyewitness accounts, an attacker drew a pistol and opened fire on Ahmadi Muslim volunteers on duty at the mosque. As a result of the shooting, five Ahmadi Muslims were injured. Two of the victims sustained critical injuries. One of the terrorists was shot dead during the attack.
Christians murdered in Punjab: Targeted killings and delayed justice
Bitter Winter (09.10.2025) – The brutal deaths of Arsalan Masih and Asif Raza expose Pakistan’s failure to shield its Christian citizens.
14-year-old Arsalan Masih, a Christian student in Pakistan’s Punjab province, was beaten to death by police officers after a prior altercation with a Muslim classmate who had pressured him to renounce his faith. Seven officers from the Bahu Chowk police post stormed the Ideal Science Academy in Jhabran Mandi, Sheikhupura district, forcibly removed Arsalan from his classroom, and assaulted him with fists, kicks, rifle butts, and a pistol. Despite attempts by a teacher to intervene, the officers continued the beating until Arsalan collapsed and died. His body was later discarded on the roadside.
Arsalan’s father, Mushtaq Masih, a member of the Presbyterian church, reported that the attack was witnessed by multiple bystanders who were threatened by police not to interfere. The incident follows a disturbing pattern: Arsalan is the third Christian teenager killed in Pakistan since August.
Blasphemy accused pastor dies three days after acquittal and release from prison
CSW (08.10.2025) – A 62-year-old pastor who spent 13 years in prison on unfounded blasphemy charges died of a cardiac arrest at his home in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, Pakistan, just three days after he was released from prison following his acquittal by the Lahore High Court.
Pastor Zafar Bhatti, founder of the Jesus World Mission Church, was arrested in July 2012 after a Muslim cleric accused him of sending text messages which defamed the mother of the Prophet Mohammed. He was reportedly tortured in custody to confess to the crime, and in May 2017 he was sentenced to life imprisonment under Article 295(C) of the Pakistani Penal Code, which criminalises insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
Extremists attack Ahmadi Muslims in Punjab village
APPG for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Secretariat (29.09.2025) – On 28 September 2025, violent mobs, allegedly affiliated with the far-right religious extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), launched a coordinated and devastating attack against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Village Piro Chak, District Sialkot, Punjab.
In a chilling display of religiously motivated violence, multiple Ahmadi Muslim homes and at least one shop were set ablaze, while tractors and vehicles were torched. Dozens of Ahmadi Muslims were physically assaulted, and at least one individual was seriously injured by gunfire. Videos of the incident can be seen HERE.
13 years in prison for two texts: The unjust imprisonment of Pastor Zafar Bhatti
Pakistan Christian Post (22.09.2025) – Pakistani Christian pastor Zafar Bhatti has spent 13 years in prison after being accused of sending just two blasphemous text messages—a charge he denies.
At a recent hearing, Advocate Saif-ul-Malook questioned how such a long sentence could be justified without forensic evidence.
Repeated delays and false excuses from the complainant’s lawyers have stalled justice, while Zafar’s frail wife, Nawab Bibi, struggles with serious health issues. A full time carer has now be hired to assist her. His case highlights the harsh misuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws against vulnerable minorities.
For over a decade, Zafar Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian, has suffered behind prison walls—wrongfully convicted under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. His story has become a powerful example of how unjustly these laws are applied against religious minorities.
Christian youth in Lahore accused of blasphemy as counter-complaint alleges fake Facebook account
CLAAS (16.09.2025) – A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered at Nishtar Colony Police Station, Lahore, under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), against a young Christian man, Asher Rasheed Bhatti, and his paternal uncle, Paul (Samuel) Masih, who is currently residing in Thailand.
The complaint, lodged by local resident Muhammad Umair, alleges that a Facebook account under the name “Asherbhatti” contained blasphemous sketches and derogatory content against the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Umair, who runs a bookshop named Old Book Centre in Awan Market, stated that he discovered the content on 14 September 2025 at around 10:00 AM. He further alleged that Asher’s uncle, Paul Masih, had commented on the posts, intensifying what he described as “incitement of hatred and injury to the religious sentiments of Muslims.”
Ahmadi Muslim mosque desecrated by police in Nankana Sahib
Stop The Persecution (09.09.2025) – On the night of 2 September, police officers in District Nankana, Punjab, carried out the targeted demolition of religious architectural features at two Ahmadi Muslim mosques in the villages of Chahur Mughliyan and Chahur Kotli.
Minarets and mihrabs (prayer niches) were torn down under the cover of darkness, without legal notice, written documentation, or formal demolition orders.
This action followed sustained pressure from extremist clerics and anti-Ahmadi actors, who had for weeks demanded the removal of these features, claiming they resembled those of other Muslim mosques. Local officials and police reinforced these calls by urging members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to undertake the demolitions themselves. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community refused, citing legal protections and fundamental rights to freedom of religion.
More than 269 Ahmadi Muslim graves have been desecrated in 2025 alone, and since 2023 more than 50 Ahmadi Muslim mosques have been desecrated.
Christians stage 17-day protest against injustice in Pakistan
Christian Daily International (04.09.2025) – In a rare show of Christian solidarity in Pakistan, victims of August 2023 Islamist attacks on Christians ended an unprecedented 17-day sit-in on Tuesday (Sept. 2) after government assurances of justice.
Addressing the demonstrators, the convener of the Victims Committee of Jaranwala, Lala Robin Daniel, said the sit-in marked the first time in Pakistan’s history that Christians had staged such an extended protest for their rights.
“Christians have suffered over 13 mob attacks on their neighborhoods over the years, but never before have they raised their voices for justice,” Daniel told those protesting lack of justice following Aug. 16, 2023 attacks in the Jaranwala area of Punjab Province. “It is for the first time in this country’s history that within a radius of 10 kilometers, protests were held not only in streets but also in graveyards and churches.”
Pakistani Christians protest ‘fake charge’ of attacking police
UCA News (03.092025) A marital dispute between Christian woman and her husband, a policeman, allegedly led to clashes and a fake case.
– Hundreds of people in a Christian-majority village in Pakistan’s Punjab province are on a protest, demanding the withdrawal of what they call fake charges against 18 Christians for attacking police.
Christians from the village, called Chak 190, belonging to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, have been protesting every evening in front of the village’s church since Independence Day on Aug. 14.
The village is home to about 36,000 people, mostly Christians who depend on farming.
Police accused some 18 Christians and 50 unidentified people of various crimes, including assaulting public servants, theft, property damage, resisting arrest, impersonation and unlawful assembly.
