ISLAMABAD: The government will decide within two weeks whether to allow over a dozen international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to work in Pakistan or not, sources have told Dawn.

A meeting of the special committee formed to look into this issue was chaired by Interior Minister Mohsin Raza Naqvi on Saturday.

According to sources, these INGOs include those which had either been denied permission to operate in Pakistan and asked to renew their registration or the ones whose MoUs — signed with the government — have expired and have applied for their renewal.

The meeting was attended by the additional secretaries of interior and economic affairs divisions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs DG, and other officers.

Interior minister says thorough scrutiny of each applicant will be completed by the mid of September

During the meeting, the INGOs’ applications against the rejection of their registration and for renewal of MOUs were reviewed.

The interior minister said a detailed review of each applica-tion and relevant documents submitted by the organisations would be conducted.

The scrutiny process would be completed within 15 days, and all applicants will be informed accordingly, he said.

He advised the INGOs to cooperate with the Ministry of Interior and provide relevant documents on time.

The policy

In 2015, the government put together a policy framework to streamline and facilitate the work of INGOs operating in the country.

Under the policy, unveiled by the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, all INGOs, working or wanting to work in Pakistan, were asked to register with the Ministry of Interior by signing MoUs.

Organisations that did not comply with the directives were stopped from operating in Pakistan.

The INGOs were also barred from raising funds inside or outside the country or assisting their local offices without permission from the government.

Months before unveiling the policy, Mr Khan disclosed that more than 1,000 foreign intelligence operators had come to Islamabad over the past few years under the guise of INGOs’ representatives.

In December 2018, the PTI government had kicked out 18 international charities after rejecting their final appeal to stay in the country.

The majority of the shuttered aid groups were US-based, while the rest were from the UK and the European Union.

According to a document penned at that time by the apex intelligence agency, some of these INGOs had vast capital and “well-established ingress from top government level to grass root levels of union councils”.

The INGOs had “turned into a mafia”, the document stated.

“Following a scrutiny of the INGOs by state organisations, scores … were found working against the interest of Pakistan and involved in sensitive issues related to security and religious matters,” the document said.

Some of these INGOs were accused of contributing to a “hybrid war” against Pakistan and also “encouraging sectarianism, promoting foreign agenda, supporting hostile spy agencies, collecting illegal data and operating without any legal backing”.

The country’s premier intelligence agency, ISI, had also accused the INGOs of “working as front offices of hostile intelligence agencies, trying to influence electoral system, weapon smuggling, illegal data collection, hiding presence of foreign employees, supporting the sub-nationalist and anti-state movement,” among other serious accusations.

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2024