PAKISTAN’S power elite, particularly those within the security structures, has rarely lacked confidence, maintaining an optimism that ground realities seldom justify. Over the decades, the sources of this self-assurance have shifted, from military might to the country’s critical geopolitical location, and now to physical resources, chief among them the critical minerals concentrated in the turbulent province of Balochistan.

What remains constant is not the source of hope, but the elite’s persistent unwillingness to reconcile it with Pakistan’s actual sociological, political and economic indicators, which tell a far less reassuring story.

The power elite might not have been surprised by the European Commission’s latest report on the implementation of the GSP-Plus, which flagged certain compliance issues. This latest assessment comes at a time when Pakistani exporters enjoy preferential access to the European market in return for implementing 27 international conventions covering human rights, labour rights, environmental protection, climate action and good governance.

The European Union, which counts Pakistan among the top beneficiaries of its Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus, emphasised that the country would have to overcome certain shortcomings to qualify under the revised framework.

The EU report will hardly impact the power elite’s attitude towards its record on human rights, the rule of law, justice, freedom of the press, and democracy, as it appears to neither believe in these values nor see democracy as a system that best suits the country. Its sources of inspiration lie elsewhere: China........

© Dawn