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EU urged to revoke Pakistan’s GSP+ status over human rights violations in Balochistan

By IANS | Updated: September 25, 2025 21:35 IST

Quetta, Sep 25 A leading human rights organisation has formally submitted a detailed report on human rights violations ...

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Quetta, Sep 25 A leading human rights organisation has formally submitted a detailed report on human rights violations in Balochistan to the European Union’s GSP+ Committee for review, requesting the revocation of Pakistan’s beneficiary status under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) due to non-compliance.

The Human Rights Council of Balochistan (HRCB), in its report covering verified incidents from January 2016 to June 2025, documented a consistent pattern of grave human rights violations in Balochistan that rise to the level of "crimes against humanity".

According to the report, at least 6744 individuals have been subjected to enforced disappearance from their homes in front of family members, by Pakistani security forces across the province. Additionally, 2559 persons were released after severe torture in the military’s torture cells.

On the other hand, 215 previously disappeared persons were later found dead, with many exhibiting grave signs of torture. The Pakistani forces, the report said, killed 173 others in fake encounters, and 231 persons during different military operations and other incidents.

The rights body stated that the Pakistani government has started burying these bodies without establishing or revealing their identities.

“Hundreds of human remains were discovered in mass graves, some identified as forcibly disappeared persons, while most were buried without identification. Public institutions, especially schools and community spaces, have been turned into military camps, disrupting civilian life. Hundreds of villages have been forcibly evacuated, torched, and looted during military operations, particularly along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor route, displacing tens of thousands,” read the report

Highlighting the growing atrocities, the report mentioned that the political and human rights gatherings are attacked with brute force, Baloch activists are shot, killed, or booked in bogus cases, and female human rights activists are manhandled and beaten in public.

The HRCB stressed that Baloch students in Punjab, Islamabad, and Sindh face racial profiling, harassment, enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings. It also alleged that the Pakistani Courts ignore such cases and support the military’s repressive policies. Moreover, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Pakistan remains ineffective, while no military or intelligence official has been held accountable.

The HRCB urged the EU to suspend or revoke Pakistan’s GSP+ status until verifiable human rights milestones are achieved, and establish independent EU monitoring mechanisms engaging directly with civil society and victims in Balochistan.

It also called on the EU to press Pakistan to ratify and implement the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

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