EU paying attention to ‘crackdown on PTI’: envoy

KARACHI: EU Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka has said that the EU is paying a lot of attention to the “crackdown on the PTI and [its] supporters in the aftermath of May 9”.

The EU ambassador made this comment in a video statement regarding the extension of Pakistan’s GSP Plus status. Ambassador Dr Kionka detailed Pakistan’s GSP Plus status as it stands today, saying that “the proposed extension of the current regulation for GSP Plus in effect means no change for Pakistan at the moment and the country enjoys the same trade preferences and access to the European market.”

She added that Pakistan also “has the same obligations as before in terms of implementing the 27 international human rights conventions” and that the EU will “continue to monitor progress and report to the European Parliament”, emphasizing that “there are certain areas where the EU would like to see more improvement [by Pakistan] -- for instance on freedom of expression, freedom of the media, freedom of religion and belief, situation of minorities, rights of women and gender equality and also labour rights” as well as the situation regarding the “crackdown on the PTI”.

The ambassador’s statement did not go unnoticed in political quarters, the PTI’s Punjab secretary-general and former minister Hammad Azhar tweeting her video and saying that the GSP Plus status is “important for [Pakistan’s] exports” and places “human rights and governance responsibilities on Pakistan”, adding that the EU ambassador had discussed “freedom of [the] press, crackdown on Tehreek-e-Insaf, military courts”.

Hammad Azhar’s tweet was quickly responded to by the PML-N’s Bilal Azhar Kayani, coordinator to PM Shehbaz Sharif on economy and energy, who accused Azhar of initiating a “conspiracy” against Pakistan’s GSP Plus Status. In a quote tweet, Kayani said that: “After the conspiracy against the IMF programme”, and [after the PTI] “setting fire” to installations in remembrance of the nation’s martyrs, “begins animosity against the GPS Plus status, in a bid to not let go of any opportunity for hostility towards the country”. He added that “every conspiracy has been thwarted” and any conspiracy against the GPS Plus status will also be unsuccessful.

Journalist Hamid Mir had meanwhile welcomed the EU ambassador’s statement, sharing the video on Twitter by saying: “Good News: EU Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka explaining the proposed extension in GSP+ status for Pakistan and other eight countries. EU will continue monitoring human rights especially the freedom of media and labour rights in all the countries enjoying GSP+ status”.

In her statement, Ambassador Dr Kionka had also clarified that the proposed continuation of the extension of the current regulation is not only for Pakistan but applies to all eight beneficiary countries of GSP Plus, and that nobody wants a stop to the trade preferences “which would affect Pakistani exporters, factory workers and their families, European businesses that rely on Pakistani suppliers, as well as European consumers”.

When speaking about the human rights monitoring by the EU, the ambassador also talked about “international NGOs looking specifically at the issue of the use of military courts and Anti-Terrorism Courts to try those accused in the May 9 events”, adding that Pakistan is a “state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which means that Pakistan has agreed that every person has the right to a fair and public trial in a court that is independent, impartial and competent, and also has the right to adequate legal representation”.