The major cause for declining to issue a visa, by an EU country, is due to the applicant presenting an about-to-be expired passport. I believe the EU now requires that the passport must be valid for at least six months before the visa will be issued. There are a lot of other considerations as well-- failure to have an up to date health card being another. Applications can also be rejected if the wrong category of visa is requested-- asking for a tourist visa when the purpose of the trip is business being a prime example.

Visas are handled at the local embassy or consular office. Given the thousands of requests these offices receive each week-- or even each day in some countries-- it is not surprising that someone in London would not be immediately able to answer for a decision made in another country.

If there is any paranoia about, it is down to those looking for sinister motives and conspiracies by the government, rather than the visa section of the consulate in Lahore.