PAKISTAN: The EU should suspend the GSP+ privileges. Why? No major human rights progress in November
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 (29.11.2025) – 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, August and September-October 2025.
Panorama of religious freedom issues in November
Hundreds languish in Pakistan prisons on blasphemy charges
The Citizen (24.11.2025) – As a high-level European Union monitoring mission is expected to visit Pakistan on November 24, hundreds are in jail in the country on charges of blaspheming Islam.
Blasphemy is an offense officially punishable by death in Pakistan. In the past decade, vigilantes have murdered dozens of people in mob violence following blasphemy accusations. And the trend of use of those laws to target Christians, as well as other religious minorities, is increasing.
A 49-year-old blind Pakistani Christian, Nadeem Masih, for instance, has been arrested and charged with blasphemy, punishable by death, after a Muslim accused him of insulting Islam’s prophet, as reported by Christian Daily International-Morning Star News on October 31.
Martha Yousaf, the nearly 80-year-old mother of Masih, said that some Muslims at her son’s workplace often harassed him, sometimes extorting money from him and other times throwing water on him or calling him names. Then, they accused him of blasphemy and handed him to police, who booked him under Section 295-C of the harsh laws, which calls for the death sentence for insulting Muhammad.
EU mission to review Pakistan’s human rights record
Christian Daily International (21.11.2025) – Rights activists urged the European Union to investigate widespread human rights violations in Pakistan, including persecution of religious minorities, ahead of a review starting Monday (Nov. 24) by a key EU mission monitoring the country’s eligibility for preferential trade terms.
The EU mission will conduct a periodic assessment of Pakistan’s implementation of 27 U.N. conventions tied to GSP+, which lowers or eliminates duties on awarded countries’ exports to the EU in exchange for them pursuing “sustainable development and good governance.”
Governments with this status must implement 27 international conventions on human rights, labor rights, good governance and the environment. Pakistan has benefited from GSP+ status since 2014, contributing to a 108 percent rise in textile exports to the EU due to lower or zero duties.
The EU mission has meetings planned with government institutions, civil society, human rights groups, workers and the private sector. The review mission was originally planned for June but was postponed due to the Iran-Israel conflict.
Anti-child marriage bill passed in Balochistan in Pakistan
Christian Daily International (17.11.2025) – In a landmark move to protect children, especially girls, from forced child marriages, a provincial assembly in Pakistan on Friday (Nov. 14) passed the Child Marriage Prohibition Bill.
The Balochistan Child Marriages Restraint Act 2025 sets 18 as the legal age for marriage in Balochistan Province and introduces stern penalties for those involved in child marriages. The provincial governor is expected to sign the legislation into law this week.
Under the legislation, an adult male contracting a child marriage, and anyone who facilitates it, will face two to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine ranging from 100,000 to 200,000 Pakistani rupees ($353 USD to $707 USD). Courts may add an additional three-month imprisonment if fines are not paid.
Pakistan: Why Hindus want a temple in Islamabad
Deutsche Welle (12.11.2025) – Pakistan is home to around 3.8 million Hindus, but in the capital, Islamabad, there is no functional place of worship for them. While land was allotted in 2017, construction never began.
In Islamabad, Hindus — the largest minority community in Pakistan — face a round trip of around 40 kilometers to the nearest Hindu temple.
In 2017, a site was allotted for a Hindu temple in Islamabad. In 2020, Pakistan’s government granted formal approval for temple construction on a site in Islamabad, but construction has not started.
Members of Islamabad’s Hindu community say politics, religious opposition and bureaucracy are to blame.
Christians join to criticize Pakistan granting immunity to Prez, army chief
UCA News (14.11.2025) – Christian activists and civil society groups in Pakistan have criticized newly passed constitutional amendments that grant lifetime legal immunity to the president and the army chief, warning the changes could further erode the country’s fragile democracy.
Parliament on Nov. 12 approved amendments granting permanent immunity to President Asif Ali Zardari and to the powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, who is widely seen as the de facto ruler of Pakistan.
With the amendment, Munir is set to assume a newly created position as chief of defense forces with authority over the army, navy, and air force. The amendments also protect Munir from all criminal proceedings for life. (…)
Two Supreme Court judges resigned in protest hours after the amendment was passed, calling the changes a grave assault on the constitution.(…)
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) announced on Nov. 9 that it would hold urgent consultations to evaluate the political and social implications of the amendment.
Christian woman in Pakistan accused of blasphemy wins bail
Christian Daily International (10.11.2025) – A high court in Pakistan has granted bail to a Christian woman imprisoned for more than a year over false accusations of blasphemy, her attorney said.
Christian attorney Lazar Allah Rakha said that Lahore High Court Justice Asjad Javaid Ghural on Thursday (Nov. 6) ordered the release of 29-year-old Stella Khawar on bail in two cases of blasphemy filed against her, as there was no evidence against her.
Christians oppose new ‘anti-minority’ poll law in Pakistan’s Punjab
UCA News (07.11.2025) – Christian rights groups in Pakistan have petitioned the Lahore High Court against a new election law in Punjab province, alleging it denies religious minorities the right to directly elect their representatives in upcoming local polls in the province.
Three Christian organizations filed the petition on Nov. 5, arguing that the Punjab Local Government Act 2025 violates constitutional guarantees of equality and the right to vote for religious minorities.
“The right to elect one’s own representatives is fundamental to meaningful participation,” said Samson Salamat, chairman of Rwadari Tehreek (Movement for Religious Tolerance), one of the petitioners.
The long-delayed elections for more than 4,000 union councils — the lowest local government units covering neighborhoods and villages — are scheduled for late December under the new law.
Oppressed Christian in Pakistan charged with blasphemy
Christian Daily International (05.11.2025) – A Christian in Pakistan with mental health issues has been arrested and charged under blasphemy, terrorism and sedition laws, sources said.
Police arrested Rasheed Masih, 48, on Aug. 6 and on allegations that he intended to incite religious tensions by recording a video against Islam and the government. Officers charged him under sections 295-A and 298 of the blasphemy law, 124-A related to sedition and Section 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, said his son Nabeel Rasheed of Hujra Shah Muqeem in Okara District, Punjab Province.
Masih has suffered from severe depression for the last two to three years after failing to get justice from the government and other entities, Rasheed said.
Pakistan bans Tehreek-e-Labbaik: Just a symbolic blow to anti-minority extremism?
Bitter Winter (03.11.2025) – The violent, extremist organization has repeatedly demonstrated that it can overcome bans and reorganize with new shapes and names, as long as the broader problems remain unaddressed.
The Pakistani government has officially banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), an extremist Islamist party notorious for its violent mobilizations against religious minorities and those accused of blasphemy. The decision, announced in October 2025, is being hailed by some as a long-overdue step toward curbing religious extremism. Yet, as “Bitter Winter” extensive seven-part investigation into the movement predicted, banning the party may be more symbolic than transformative unless accompanied by deeper structural reforms.
Founded in 2015 as the political arm of the religious organization Tehreek-e-Labbaik-ya-Rasool-Allah (TLYRA), created in 2013 by the late cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi.
