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Tuesday April 23, 2024

SC says govts not serious about NAP enforcement

ISIS yet to be declared a terror outfit; govts lack system to check funding to ISIS; report sought on volume of NGOs, details of funding

By our correspondents
July 04, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday observed that the federal and four provincial governments were not serious about the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) and sought a comprehensive report on the volume of NGOs and details of their funding.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, heard the case of a fake cheque given to a citizen by a social organisation’s deputy director.Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt submitted to the court a report on the NGOs.
Justice Khawaja, however, observed that the governments were not serious about the implementation of NAP in letter and spirit.He further observed that there were thousands of registered NGOs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but nobody knew the volume of unregistered NGOs there.
The attorney general informed the court that the government had allocated Rs15 million for the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) during the federal budget 2015-16.
Justice Khawaja remarkedthat the ISIS was not yet declared by the government as a terror outfit. He said if someone gave the ISIS millions of funds, the governments lacked the system to check it.
Meanwhile, the court directed the federal and four provincial governments to furnish with it a comprehensive report in the next hearing on the volume of NGOs and source of their funding and adjourned the hearing until July 22.
On the last hearing, the court had ordered provision of details with regard to the funding and monitoring of NGOs, the number of registrations and the areas where they were operating. Details about the procedure of registration were also sought.
The court observed that country could not be left at the mercy of these NGOs and their motives and interests should also be explained. The court was told that a social organisation’s deputy director had given cheque to a citizen that proved a fake. A bail application was filed in respect of him because he was arrested, he added.Justice Jawwad had remarked as to how the monitoring of these NGOs was conducted and in what areas these were operating.