The EU Needs to Ask Pakistan Tough Questions: Strategic Convenience to Moral Responsibility

For far too long, the European Union has treated Pakistan as a strategic exception. That needs to change, as it continues to repeatedly violate nearly everything the EU stands for. At a time when Pakistan continues to enable extremism and suppress dissent, the EU can no longer hide behind diplomatic niceties.

Illustration by Eurasian Meridian

And to its credit, the EU has often acted with patience and the belief that engagement is better than isolation. The EU must begin asking Pakistan the hard questions it has long avoided. The diplomatic relationship between the EU and Pakistan dates back to 1962, when Pakistan became an early partner of the European Bloc in South Asia.

It has continued, with Pakistan receiving legal & institutional recognition through the 2004 Cooperation Agreement, and, in 2014, the EU granting preferential trade status under its Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) regime. The EU, as the flag-bearer for protecting human rights, downplays Pakistan's human rights record, highlighting the contradiction between strategic interests and moral consistency.

The interest-driven strategic pragmatism of the EU is based on its benefiting from strategic geographic access, trade and market advantages, and intelligence sharing with Pakistan. The preferential status provided to Pakistan is based on compliance with international conventions, and yet the EU chooses to remain silent on Pakistan's recurring violations of human rights. It is imperative at this juncture for the EU to hold Pakistan accountable for maintaining its own credibility, particularly when it represents itself as a defender of democracy and protector of human rights.

Pakistan needs to be held accountable to serve broader geopolitical interests. Such favouritism towards a nation that propagates terrorism and is a threat to regional security not only hampers trust but also the stability that the EU has established for the world.

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BY EURASIAN MERIDIAN

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