Pakistan NGOs to operate under interior ministry

Islamabad: No non-governmental organisations (NGO) will be allowed to work in the federally administered tribal areas (FATA), Gilgit-Baltistan and other declared security zones in Pakistan, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said on Monday, according to state-run radio.

The minister also said registration, monitoring and security clearance of all NGOs would now be done by the interior ministry.

The decision has been taken by the prime minister in light of a report prepared by a committee headed by his special assistant, Syed Tariq Fatemi.

The minister said the registration of NGOs would be now be done in a transparent manner. There would be a transparent accountability systems detailing sources of funding and objectives of the organisation.

“We should know where their money is coming from and what it is being used for,” he said.

He said all local and foreign NGOs will have to register or re-register within six months. Those international NGOs not doing so will have to leave Pakistan.

The minister said currently there are thousands of NGOs in the country but about forty per cent are not registered and there is no data base of these organisations.

About Save the Children NGO, the Minister said its project on which there were reservations, was closed last year.

“Save the Children is not an enemy of the state; it has been registered since 1997 and is a globally-recognised NGO but during the PPP government’s tenure in 2012, some intelligence reports were uncovered in relation to it.”

However, he said, the previous government had not taken any action.

Nisar said that visas would not be issued for staffers of unapproved NGOs. “Only routine visas will be issued for those NGOs which are approved, and are operating under their designated mandate.”

In a similar context, he said, no visas had been issued for foreign representatives of Save the Children, nor was the government intending to do so until the new policy was implemented.

Nisar said that “Save the Children” had applied for approval in 2014 but their plea was still under process.

The minister said NGOs would be consulted with regards to the new policy, adding that all NGOs would be encouraged to adopt self regulatory systems.

On June 12, authorities had ordered ‘Save the Children’ to close down on grounds that the aid group was “working against the country”.