PAKISTAN: The EU should suspend the GSP+. Why? Report April
Controversial draft revision of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872
Forced conversions and marriages of Christian and other minority girls kidnapped by Muslims
HRWF (30.04.2026) – For over 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 a tangible progress on the implementation of international human rights standards. Quite the contrary, it goes on worsening as this digest of human rights violations perpetrated shows.
It is time for the EU to take sanctions on Pakistan, such as the suspension of its GSP+ status as long as there is no robust progress in the area of human rights. It is in the interest of the EU, the EU taxpayers, the EU enterprises and of course, Pakistani citizens.
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. The EU should vigorously exercise its oversight powers instead of simply remaining in a passive waiting position.
Panorama of religious freedom issues in April
Pakistan churches reject proposed amendments to Christian marriage law
UCA News (27.04.2026) – Ecumenical committee to prepare an alternative draft within months as a unified church response.
Catholic and Protestant Churches in Pakistan’s Punjab province have rejected amendments proposed to the colonial-era Christian marriage law, saying they plan to form an ecumenical committee to help prepare an alternative draft.
The amendments to the Christian Marriage Act of 1872 seek to raise the minimum legal marriage age for Christian boys and girls to 18. It also wants both parties to be Christian for a marriage to be solemnized under the law, replacing the current provision of the law that permits marriage between a Christian and a non-Christian.
Archbishop Khalid Rehmat of Lahore appreciated the move to revise the British-era marriage law, but wanted wider consultations among Churches before accepting changes to Christian personal laws.
The consultation comes amid growing concerns about forced conversions and child marriages following a controversial March 25 ruling by Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court that upheld the marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Bibi, to a 30-year-old Muslim man.
Pakistan’s minority convicts miss out on faith-based remission
UCA News (24.04.2026) – Christian groups and prison ministries in Pakistan say the country’s sentence-remission system, linked to religious education, disproportionately benefits Muslim inmates while minority prisoners are excluded despite legal provisions granting them similar rights.
Between 2022 and 2024, Punjab granted remission to 1,653 Muslim prisoners for Quranic study, while no minority inmate received comparable relief, according to the Lahore-based Center for Social Justice (CSJ).
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 284 Muslim prisoners received remissions between 2023 and 2025, with no recorded beneficiaries from minority communities.
The concerns were raised during an April 22 seminar on “Remissions for Minority Prisoners” in Lahore, where speakers cited official prison data exposing the sharp disparity.
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Pakistan courts questioned on Christian girl’s marriage ruling
UCA News (22.04.2026) – A Christian lawmaker has questioned Pakistan’s judiciary for allegedly disregarding official identity documents in cases involving underage marriages, warning that the practice could place minority girls at greater risk.
Ijaz Alam Masih, former provincial minister for minority affairs, on April 21 filed an adjournment motion in the Punjab Assembly seeking clarification on why courts are refusing to accept age records issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), the country’s primary civil registration body.
The move follows a controversial March 25 ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan, which upheld the marriage of a 13-year-old Christian girl, Maria Bibi, to a 30-year-old Muslim man.
In its judgment, the court questioned the reliability of NADRA and union council records, citing delayed registration, inconsistencies in documentation, and contradictions in statements regarding the girl’s age.
Justice sought for ‘forcibly married’ Pakistani Christian teenager
UCA News (21.04.2026) – Christians and rights advocates in Pakistan have called for protection and justice for a Christian family facing threats from a Muslim man accused of abduction, forced marriage, and conversion.
Adan Sabir, 19, a Catholic and her family members who are from Jaranwala at Faisalabad in Punjab province, received a series of threats, including death threats, from the accused Usman Ali, according to her mother, Afasn Sabir.
The family and Ali have been involved in a court case since last July after the latter was accused of abducting Sabir at gunpoint, forcibly converting and marrying her.
Her brother filed the case following the alleged abduction on July 3 last year after she refused his marriage proposal, according to their mother.
While the case is still ongoing, Ali has been threatening Adan Sabir and her family over the past two months, after the family attempted to arrange her marriage to a Christian man, and they got engaged, the mother said.
Lazar Aslam, convener of the Catholic-run Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission, called this “a flagrant violation of the fundamental right to religious freedom and a direct assault on human dignity.”
Pakistan Christians welcome court halt to slum evictions
UCA NEWS (17.04.2026) – Islamabad court orders authorities to stop demolitions, finalize protections for informal settlements within a month
The Federal Constitutional Court in Islamabad on April 16 upheld a suspension order on a demolition drive targeting slums by the Capital Development Authority, or CDA. The court also ordered the agency to finalize long-delayed regulations governing such settlements within a month.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Arshad Shah expressed concern over delays in framing the policy and instructed civic authorities to consult all relevant stakeholders before finalizing the regulations.
Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi welcomed the move, calling it a “significant step” toward safeguarding the rights of underprivileged communities.
Christian woman in Pakistan told to convert and marry or be killed
Christian Daily International (10.04.2026) – Police in Pakistan on Easter Sunday (April 5) arrested a Muslim accused of threatening to kill a Christian woman if she refused to convert to Islam and marry him, according to her family.
Imran Masih of Chak 6/11-L village near Harappa, Sahiwal District, said his 20-year-old niece, Laiba Javed, received a handwritten note from Rehman Irfan on April 2 demanding that she convert to Islam and marry him by April 15. In the note, Irfan warned that she would be killed if she refused, Masih said.
Masih said Javed, who works in Lahore, had returned to her ancestral village to celebrate Easter with relatives when she received the note.
Another Christian girl abducted, forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan
Christian Daily International (06.04.2026) – A Christian family is seeking justice after their 16-year-old daughter was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam and possibly married to a Muslim prayer leader, according to her father.
Faqeer Masih, a brick kiln worker from Handaal village in Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur District, Punjab Province, said his daughter Neha Bibi had been attending sewing classes for six months at a center run by the wives of 45-year-old prayer leader Sajid Ibrahim.
Neha went to the center on March 24 but did not return home, Masih said. When the family approached the center to inquire about her whereabouts, Ibrahim’s two wives, identified as Ruqaiya and Nargis, told them she had already left for home, he added.
Masih said officers delayed registering a First Information Report (FIR) and did not initially act on their complaint.
He added that the investigating officer later informed the family that Neha had appeared before a court in Lahore and stated that she had converted to Islam of her own free will.
Pakistan blocks Ahmadi Muslims from Eid prayers
Bitter Winter (06.04.2026) – Police and legal bodies coordinated the crackdown. India denounced Pakistan’s treatment of Ahmadis at the UN as a form of Islamophobia.
Eid-ul-Fitr should have been a time of joy for Pakistan’s Ahmadiyya community. It might have offered a rare break in a year marked by legal harassment, vandalized mosques, and increasing restrictions on their religious practices. Instead, this year’s Eid highlighted how far the state and those who influence it will go to keep Ahmadis hidden, even in private spaces.
In Punjab, police arrived at Ahmadi prayer sites ready to act.
Worshippers were forced out, doors were locked, signaling that even being inside four walls is no longer a guarantee of safety. In Gujranwala, congregational prayers were stopped before they could start. In Sialkot, officers spread out across several locations to ensure that no Ahmadi Eid gathering took place. Faisalabad witnessed a place of worship forcibly emptied, while in Sargodha, prayer centers were cleared and sealed like crime scenes instead of places for devotion.
Truck slams into Easter procession in Pakistan
UCA News (05.04.2026) – At least one person died and dozens of people were injured after a truck rammed into an Easter procession in Mariamabad in Wazirabad district of Pakistan’s Punjab province early April 5, officials and witnesses said.
The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. as about 200 Christians gathered for a pre-dawn Easter sunrise service marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ, one of the most important celebrations in the Christian calendar.
A speeding light commercial vehicle plowed into worshippers near Mariamabad, injuring more than 60 people, some critically.
The driver, identified as Muhammad Bilal, fled the scene, police said.
The police station is merely 10–15 minutes away, yet they arrived almost an hour later.
