The Ministry of Economic Affairs has floated a summary to the federal cabinet, seeking a release from the task of monitoring the local and international non-government organizations (NGOs/INGOs), expressing its inability to perform the job. The Ministry was assigned the task in view of the FATF [Financial Action Task Force].
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Omar Ayub Khan briefed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Economic Affairs meeting, held with Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali in the chair on Thursday, on the NGOs and INGOs operating in Pakistan, their sponsors, and the details of funds allocated to them.
The Ministry officials revealed that some NGOs worked for foreign countries and intelligence agencies. They said some UN agencies were also involved in suspicious working, while some foreign embassies put money into NGO accounts. They stressed the Ministry could not give a clean chit to any NGOs, as it did not have any mechanism to monitor them.
The committee recommended that fake NGOs should be abolished and the registration process of NGOs and INGOs be streamlined.
The work of NGOs is overseen by the Interior Ministry and the Poverty Alleviation Division, the Ministry officials said, adding that the registration of NGOs was a matter falling under the purview of the provinces. They maintained that INGOs were overseen by the Ministry of Interior, and the Economic Affairs Division did not look after the NGO development work, but it worked as a post office. They said the funds used in any anti-state activities of NGOs were monitored by intelligence agencies.
The Ministry officials informed the committee that there were 64,719 NGOs registered in Pakistan, while 48,737 NGOs were not active at present and around 15,982 NGOs were active. They said NGOs had submitted 1165 applications to the Economic Affairs Division for registration. Of these, 614 applications had been approved and 213 others had been rejected with 338 applications awaiting clearance.
According to the officials, 552 local NGOs are running with external funding in Pakistan, including 117 NGOs funded by the United States and 107 others by the United Kingdom. The said 106 out of 140 international NGOs were registered in Pakistan, said the Interior Ministry officials.
On the allocation of the funds to different projects in the federating units, the committee recommended that all the stakeholders, viz. the Ministry of Interior and Chief Secretaries of all the provinces including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, be invited to the meeting.
The committee further recommended that the Ministry may come up with complete proposals regarding disbursement of funds and the hurdles in the implementation of projects, and make new laws to expedite a timely implementation of the projects in all sectors.
