SECP directed not to register NGOs for indefinite period

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister’s High-Level Inter-Ministerial Committee has recently directed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) not to register any international NGO for an indefinite period, as they will now go through a proper scrutiny mechanism by the Interior Ministry and will have to sign MoUs with the Economic Affairs Division (EAD).
“The Commission will not register any INGOs any more; however, the names of 23 INGOs against whom the SECP has initiated action will be struck off the register of companies if they do not comply with the commission rules and regulations and we will write to the State Bank to freeze their accounts,” the SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi said while briefing a select group of print media journalists.
The 23 international NGOs include, Save the Children, the British Council, American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences, Al Ehya Trust, Albion Pakistan Inc, Association of National Development Finance Institutions in Member Countries of Islamic Development Bank, CAG Ogretim Isletmeleri A.S.
Others are Education Development Center, Ins; Global Partner; Global Relief Foundation Inc; Goal; HTSPE Ltd.; International Relief and Development, Inc; Overseas Development Corporation; Pinnacle Education Services, LLC; Registered Non-profit Organization JEN; The International Development Organization; Third World Development Organization; War Child; World Education Ins; Cooperative Housing Foundation; HMD International Response and Human Concern International. A senior official of the SECP said: “Any international NGO wanting to register with the Government of Pakistan will have to first go through an electronic registration with the Interior Ministry and then sign an MoU with the EAD for functioning in various sector of their interest.”
He added that the existing INGOs will have also to complete the process of registering themselves with the Interior minister and sing MoUs with the EAD if they complied with the Commission rules.
It will take four to five months to complete the process, as every month the Commission is sending a notice to them to comply with the rules of the commission. Once they are unresponsive, the Commission will strike their names off the companies register, a top official said to journalists here Thursday.
“Out of the total 33 INGOs registered with the SECP as foreign companies, 23 were found delinquent. Now, the Commission has initiated action in terms of Section 439 of 1984 Companies Ordinance to strike names of these INGOs off the register of companies,” he said. He added that there are about 100,000 NGOs working in Pakistan.
There are 643 NGO’s (including INGOs) registered with the Commission. So far, more than 200 NGO’s licenses have been revoked by the Commission. The SECP’s exercise to scrutinize the working and accounts of local NGOs has been extended to INGOs.
In this regard, show-cause notices were issued to all INGOs that had not filed annual accounts and other overdue returns with the relevant registrars.Based on response of the INGOs regarding these notices and the record already available with the SECP, the state of compliance of the INGOs has remained unsatisfactory.