Pakistan, July 22 -- Pakistan should improve its human-rights record. It should protect journalists, women, workers, religious minorities and political opponents because they are Pakistani citizens, not because a European official has placed another report on a desk in Brussels.

There should be no confusion on this point.

There should also be no confusion about the other point: Europe cannot behave like the permanent examiner of the world while refusing to sit the same examination itself.

The European Commission's latest GSP+ assessment has revived the familiar debate about Pakistan's compliance with international conventions. Some of the concerns are valid. Laws are often enacted with great ceremony and implemented with very little se...