● The EU’s Olof Skoog toured Pakistan for “human rights” but conveniently skipped meeting PTI, the main victims of state repression—just an innocent mistake? Most likely not.
● Imran Khan once defied Western pressure, and now the EU’s silence on his persecution looks less like neutrality and more like a tacit approval.
The EU’s Open Bias Against Imran Khan: A Case Study in Hypocrisy
The European Union has long positioned itself as a global champion of human rights, democracy, and political freedoms. Yet, its actions in Pakistan tell a very different story—one of blatant bias, selective outrage, and tacit approval of oppression. The recent visit by Olof Skoog, the EU’s Special Representative for Human Rights, is a glaring example of this hypocrisy. Despite the unprecedented state-backed persecution of Pakistan’s largest political party, PTI, and its leader Imran Khan, Skoog and his delegation deliberately avoided meeting the victims of the country’s ongoing dictatorship. The message is clear: the EU is not interested in human rights when its preferred political players are not in power.
The EU’s Convenient Silence
For nearly two years, Pakistan has seen a complete breakdown of democratic norms in an effort to keep Imran Khan and PTI out of power. Mass arrests, enforced disappearances, brutal crackdowns on free speech, and blatant election rigging have become routine. Thousands of PTI leaders, workers, and supporters have been jailed on fabricated charges, and Imran Khan himself has been subjected to a judicial witch hunt. The regime in Islamabad has done everything to erase PTI from the political landscape, yet the EU’s human rights delegation found no reason to meet with the primary victims of this oppression.
Instead, Skoog’s visit focused on Pakistan’s GSP+ trade privileges—a status that requires adherence to human rights commitments. But how can the EU claim to uphold human rights while ignoring the very party that has faced the most egregious violations? The selective engagement is not just ironic—it is an open endorsement of Pakistan’s authoritarian descent.
The Real Reason Behind the EU’s Bias
This is not just negligence. It is a calculated bias. Imran Khan’s crime, in the eyes of the EU, was that he refused to be dictated to when he was in power. In 2022, a group of EU envoys sent an unprecedented public letter pressuring Pakistan to condemn Russia at the UN, hence calling to break the neutral stance, which was part of Imran Khan’s foreign policy back then, in order to restore peace in Pakistan. Khan responded by calling out the West’s double standards, asking whether similar demands had been made to India, who back then was buying cheap oil from Russia. His refusal to bow down marked him as a problem for the Western establishment.
Now that he has been ousted through blatant US backed political engineering, the EU has no interest in defending his rights as a political prisoner. By not engaging with PTI, the EU is effectively giving tacit approval to the crackdown. It is a covert message to future Pakistani leaders: obey Western directives, or you will be abandoned when the deep state comes for you.
EU’s Double Standards Exposed
Compare this to how the EU reacts in other parts of the world. When opposition leaders are jailed in Belarus or Russia, the EU demands accountability. When elections are rigged in African or Eastern European countries, Brussels issues strong condemnations. But in Pakistan, where a political party is being dismantled through brute force, the EU remains strategically silent. This is not human rights advocacy; this is geopolitical convenience masquerading as principle.
The Ugly Truth
The EU’s hypocrisy has been laid bare. This is not about democracy or human rights—it is about control. As long as Pakistan’s leadership follows orders, the EU is willing to look the other way. Imran Khan’s refusal to play along sealed his fate, and now the so-called champions of democracy are complicit in the destruction of Pakistan’s political freedom. By failing to address or meet PTI, the EU has positioned itself as an enabler of dictatorship. No amount of diplomatic spin will be able to cover this.
