Pakistan says ‘confident’ will meet requirements for next GSP+ scheme

A pedestrian walks under waving flags of the European Union in front of the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels on March 11, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 06 October 2021
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Pakistan says ‘confident’ will meet requirements for next GSP+ scheme

  • Islamabad will have to demonstrate tangible progress on meeting international conventions on rights, governance  
  • European Parliament has an immediate sought review of Pakistan’s eligibility for GSP+ status over rights record  

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Pakistan has submitted its response to the European Union's list of issues and follow-up questions for the renewal of its Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status, with the country’s commerce chief saying he is “confident” that Islamabad would be successful in the fourth biennial review of the special trade incentive.  

This April, the European Parliament moved a resolution against Pakistan, seeking an immediate review of its eligibility for GSP+ status over what it called violence and discrimination against religious minorities and other vulnerable groups.  

The development took place after the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious party resorted to violent protests, demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador to Islamabad over anti-Islam cartoons published in France.  

The GSP+ is a special trade arrangement offered to developing economies by European nations in return for their commitment to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, environmental protection and governance. Institutionalized in 1971, the framework removes or reduces import duties on products exported to Europe from low-income countries.  

Pakistan, which is part of a current GSP+ scheme set to end in December 2023, submitted its responses to the EU's list of issues and follow-up questions on September 15.  

"EU is our biggest export partner and we have excellent relations with all EU member states. If you see our exports country-wise, EU member countries will be in the top ten export destinations. As the 4th Biennial Review of GSP Plus incentive is currently underway, I am confident that due to the positive initiatives by the government it will be successfully completed," Pakistani prime minister’s aide on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said in a statement.  

"The five new international conventions in the new GSP scheme are in line with government’s priorities and we are already taking steps to ensure labour rights, child rights and rights of the persons with disabilities. I can assure that the Government of Pakistan is already committed to the cause."   

The legislative proposal for the new GSP scheme will now be presented to the European Council and Parliament for detailed deliberations before adoption. Once the European Council and Parliament adopt the new scheme, Pakistan, like any other beneficiary country of the GSP scheme, will have to file a new application for the new GSP scheme and ratify and implement 32 International Conventions.  

Speaking to Arab News earlier, Dawood said Pakistan would have to file a fresh application for the new scheme like other beneficiary countries of the GSP scheme.  

“Pakistani products … have duty free access in all 27 member states of the European Union since January 1, 2014, until December 31, 2023,” he said, adding that the EU periodically reviewed the commitment of all beneficiary nations with GSP+ status to the signed international conventions.  

Dawood said all nations, including Pakistan, would be required to ratify and implement the five new international conventions, in addition to the previous 27 international covenants, to benefit from a new program to be adopted by the EU from 2024 to 2036.  

The EU office in Islamabad said in a statement Pakistan was the largest beneficiary of the current GSP+ program but the European Commission was continuously monitoring progress made by beneficiary nations like Pakistan in implementing international conventions.  

“In the last monitoring reports, some progress has been positively highlighted, while concerns have been raised regarding child labor, torture, media freedom and access to justice, among others,” the statement maintained.  

European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said in a statement last month that Pakistan’s exports to Europe had increased by 60 percent since it was granted GSP+ status in 2014 but “in order to maintain the trade preferences under GSP Plus beyond 2023, Pakistan will have to redouble its efforts to turn the international conventions it signed into reality on the ground.”  

“To make the case to be eligible under the new GSP Plus system, Pakistan, like any other potential beneficiary countries,” Kaminara said, “will have to demonstrate tangible progress to convince EU parliamentarians and member state governments.”  


US secretary of state Rubio urges Islamabad and New Delhi to step back

Updated 9 sec ago
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US secretary of state Rubio urges Islamabad and New Delhi to step back

  • Marco Rubio holds separate phone calls with Pakistani PM and Indian external affairs minister 
  • Urges Pakistan and India to improve communications, engage in “direct dialogue” to de-escalate 

ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday held separate telephone calls with Pakistan’s premier and the external affairs minister of India and urged the two nations to engage in “direct dialogue” to de-escalate their ongoing conflict, the state department said. 

India hit Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, called Azad Kashmir, with missiles on Wednesday and Pakistan said it shot down five Indian aircraft in retaliation in their worst clash in over two decades. Pakistan said 31 civilians were killed in the Indian strikes while New Delhi says it targeted “terror camps.”

On Thursday, Pakistan said it had shot down 29 drones launched by India while New Delhi said it had “neutralized” Islamabad’s attempts to target military targets with drones and missiles.

“He expressed US support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications,” the state department said in two separate statements after Rubio spoke to Pakistani Premier Shehbaz Sharif and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. 

“The Secretary emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation.”

India is an important US partner for Washington, which aims to counter China’s rising influence, while Pakistan remains an ally, despite its diminished importance after the US withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Both India and Pakistan claim Muslim-majority Kashmir in full, with each controlling only part and having fought wars in the past over the region.

The latest standoff was triggered by an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan, which has denied the claims and called for a neutral investigation.


Pakistan’s Chinese-made jet brought down two Indian fighter aircraft — US officials 

Updated 12 min 37 sec ago
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Pakistan’s Chinese-made jet brought down two Indian fighter aircraft — US officials 

  • Performance of leading Chinese fighter jet against Western rival is being closely watched in Washington 
  • Episode may offer insights into how Beijing might fare in any showdown over Taiwan or the wider Indo-Pacific

ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON: A top Chinese-made Pakistani fighter plane shot down at least two Indian military aircraft on Wednesday, two US officials told Reuters, marking a major milestone for Beijing’s advanced fighter jet.
The performance of a leading Chinese fighter jet against a Western rival is being closely watched in Washington for insights into how Beijing might fare in any showdown over Taiwan or the wider Indo-Pacific.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was high confidence that Pakistan had used the Chinese-made J-10 aircraft to launch air-to-air missiles against Indian fighter jets — bringing down at least two.
Another official said at least one Indian jet that was shot down was a French-made Rafale fighter aircraft.
Both officials said Pakistan’s F-16 aircraft, made by Lockheed Martin, were not used in the shootdown.
Delhi has not acknowledged the loss of any of its planes and instead said it carried out successful strikes against what it said was “terrorist” infrastructure inside Pakistan.
World powers from the US to Russia and China have called for calm in one of the world’s most dangerous, and most populated, nuclear flashpoint regions.
In France, Rafale manufacturer Dassault Aviation and the MBDA consortium, which makes the Meteor air-to-air missile, could not immediately be reached for comment on a public holiday.
While Reuters reported on Wednesday that three Indian planes went down, citing local government officials in India, this marks the first Western confirmation that Pakistan’s Chinese-made jets were used in the shootdowns.
Pakistan’s Defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, told Reuters on Thursday that the J-10 was used to shoot down three French-made Rafale planes, which were newly acquired by India. 
Pakistan says it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat. 


Indian villagers near Pakistan border call for ceasefire as shelling kills at least 13

Updated 18 min 2 sec ago
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Indian villagers near Pakistan border call for ceasefire as shelling kills at least 13

  • The shelling damaged several religious sites, including a temple, a Sikh shrine and a mosque
  • Statement released by India said dead include three women, five children killed in “Pakistani firing”

Poonch, Indian-administered Kashmir: Indian villagers called for a ceasefire on Thursday after at least 13 civilians were killed by what authorities said was Pakistani shelling in Poonch, along the India-Pakistan border, in Jammu and Kashmir.

The shelling damaged several religious sites, including a temple, a Sikh shrine, and a mosque.

“We appeal to the government that there should be a ceasefire as soon as possible. There should be peace and harmony,” said a villager Malkeet Singh.

A statement released by the Indian government on Thursday said 16 lives, including three women and five children, were lost “due to Pakistani firing.”

Pakistan said at least 31 of its civilians were killed and about 50 wounded in Wednesday’s strikes and in cross-border shelling across the frontier in Kashmir.

The nuclear-armed neighbors’ tit-for-tat measures began after gunmen opened fire in the Baisaran Valley, a popular tourist attraction in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, on the afternoon of April 22, killing 26 people and wounding several others before fleeing into the surrounding pine forests.

Although Pakistan’s federal government has pledged to respond to India’s strikes, Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told The New York Times on Wednesday Pakistan was ready to de-escalate.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said New Delhi did not intend to escalate the situation. 

“However, if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response,” he said at India-Iran Joint Commission Meeting.

“Our livestock and belongings are all gone. Nothing is left. This shelling must stop, and there should be peace. For God’s sake, give us peace. We want peace for everyone,” said a resident of Uri on the Indian side of the border.


Silent streets, shuttered shops: Fear grips Kotli after India strikes in Azad Kashmir

Updated 08 May 2025
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Silent streets, shuttered shops: Fear grips Kotli after India strikes in Azad Kashmir

  • District official says missile strike on house and mosque killed two siblings and injured two others
  • Residents deny India’s claim of targeting ‘terrorist infrastructure,’ say civilians were the target

KOTLI, Azad Kashmir: A convoy of journalists escorted by the Pakistani military and officials traveled through the scenic but tense roads of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) this week, arriving in the afternoon in Kotli, where an Indian strike on a mosque on Wednesday early morning had killed two people.
The usually bustling city stood silent, its shops shuttered, roads empty and anxious residents watching from a distance.
Amid the most intense military flare-up between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in decades, New Delhi said it had struck nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and AJK early Wednesday. AJK is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley administered by Pakistan while Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India.
India described Wednesday’s strikes as retaliation for an April 22 attack in its part of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Delhi attributed that attack to Pakistan, a claim Islamabad has repeatedly denied.
Pakistani authorities said six locations were hit across the country during Indian strikes, resulting in 31 deaths and 57 injuries. The Pakistan army spokesperson said the military responded by downing five Indian aircraft.
“It [the attack] happened after 12:30 a.m. on [Wednesday], when people were asleep and were jolted awake by the sound of the blasts,” Dawood Ahmed, a local resident, told Arab News near the mosque in Kotli that was hit by Indian strikes. 
“It happened so suddenly, and people were so terrified that they rushed out of their homes with their children ... We thought a major attack had occurred and that Kotli had been surrounded.”
Ahmed said the Nakial sector on the Line of Control (LoC), the restive de facto border separating the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir, was about 22 kilometers from the area.
“So, we are not used to regular firing or skirmishes,” he added. “This was something entirely new for us.”
Asked about the Indian claim that it had targeted a militant facility, Ahmed said the building was just a mosque. No one lived there and it was occupied only when the imam came to lead prayers.
Arab News could not independently verify this. 

“PLACE OF WORSHIP”

Nasir Rafiq, the area’s deputy commissioner, said a house located next to the mosque was also hit by the Indian strikes. 
“Two people, a 19-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, both siblings, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured including a woman and her son,” he told Arab News, standing in front of the destroyed house and mosque.
He said the siblings, both students, had come from the nearby Nakial town. The elder sister was attending university and the younger brother was in school.
As the media delegation remained at the site, more residents gathered, listening closely to the conversations between journalists and locals.
Dr. Mazhar Iqbal Tahir, head of a local hospital, said the blast was so massive that staff couldn’t immediately understand what had happened.
“We immediately imposed emergency [at the hospital] and called all doctors and health care professionals,” he told Arab News.
Tahir said the hospital treated the injured, but both siblings had died before they were brought in.
Umar Farooq, a local university professor, said Kotli was one of the most populated cities in AJK and far from the LoC, questioning how India could have bombed such a place.
“There is no military target here, there is no paramilitary target here, and this is the question that I am raising,” he told Arab News.
“Just take a look around,” he said, gesturing toward the mosque. “This is a place of worship. India is the signatory of the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian agreements. Still they have done this to us.”


‘Big lie,’ says Pakistan on New Delhi’s accusations it tried to strike inside India

Updated 08 May 2025
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‘Big lie,’ says Pakistan on New Delhi’s accusations it tried to strike inside India

  • India says “neutralized” Islamabad’s attempts to strike military targets with drones, missiles on Thursday
  • Pakistan army said it had downed 29 Israeli-manufactured Harop drones launched from India overnight

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday described New Delhi’s accusations that Pakistan had tried to carry out strikes inside India overnight as a “big lie,” after India said it had “neutralized” Islamabad’s attempts to target military targets with drones and missiles.

Fighting has escalated between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors since Wednesday when India struck multiple locations in Pakistan in response to a deadly April 22 attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blames on its neighbor.

Pakistan, which denies any link to the Kashmir violence, said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation. Thursday brought more violence as Pakistan said it had downed 29 Israeli-manufactured Harop drones launched from India overnight and New Delhi said Islamabad had launched an air attack using “drones and missiles” before it retaliated to destroy an air defense system in Lahore.

“Today, a politically based and motivated story was issued that last night Pakistan attacked different Indian military installations and military areas. It’s a big lie. It’s a very big lie,” Dar, who is also the country’s foreign minister, told reporters.

He said India had “concocted” the story to justify attempting to carry out waves of drone attacks inside Pakistan.

“What they did today [sending drones], from Islamabad to South Pakistan till Karachi, in at least two dozen places, is shameful, regretful and condemnable,” Dar added.

The foreign minister’s press conference followed a statement by India’s defense ministry that said Pakistan on Thursday morning “attempted to engage a number of military targets ... using drones and missiles,” which were “neutralized” by air defense systems.

New Delhi said areas targeted included sites in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and India’s Punjab state, including the key cities of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, as well as Bhuj in Gujarat state.

“The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations,” it added.

The defense ministry said in retaliation, its military had “targeted air defense radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan,” saying the “response has been in the same domain, with the same intensity, as Pakistan.”

It added that it had been “reliably learnt that an air defense system at Lahore has been neutralized.”

People gather in front of the shattered glasses of a restaurant outside the Rawalpindi cricket stadium after an alleged drone was shot down in Rawalpindi on May 8, 2025. (AFP)

Dar, and military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, have both rejected the claim.

“29 drones so far have been neutralized,” Chaudhry said at the press conference alongside Dar.

“Only one managed to partially engage its target for which it came. Some equipment was damaged and four soldiers were injured.”

He said three civilians had been killed and four injured during the exchange.

The conflict between India and Pakistan has been confined in recent decades mostly to the disputed mountainous region of Kashmir. But the air strikes on Wednesday morning, which also hit the towns of Bahawalpur and Muridke in the heart of the country, and the drone incursions into some of the country’s largest cities on Thursday, were seen in Islamabad as a major escalation.

One drone was shot down over the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the Pakistan army’s heavily fortified headquarters.

One drone hit a military target near Lahore, the capital and largest city of the province of Punjab, and the second-largest city in Pakistan after Karachi.

Other places where drones were neutralized were Gujranwala, Chakwal, Attock, Bahawalpur, Miano, Chor and near Karachi, which the country’s largest city and commercial capital.

India has also accused Pakistan of having “increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy caliber artillery” across the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two nations.

India said the number of people who had been killed by Pakistani firing since the escalation of violence on Wednesday had risen to 16, including three women and five children.

Speaking in parliament, Pakistani Information Ministers said Pakistan had killed 40-50 Indian soldiers and destroyed a brigade headquarters along the Line of Control. The claims could not be independently verified and India has not commented on it.

Workers place candles and flowers prior to a candle light vigil for children, who were killed in the Indian missile strikes, in Islamabad, Pakistan on May 8, 2025. (AP)

India and Pakistan have fought three wars in the past, two of them over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

Since April 22, they have intensified firing and shelling across the Line of Control.

For decades India has accused Pakistan of supporting militants in attacks on Indian interests, especially in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denies such support and in turn accuses India of backing separatist and other insurgents in Pakistan, which New Delhi denies.

With inputs from AFP and Reuters