Regulating INGOs

The government has moved ahead with one of its key priorities – a policy to regulate the functioning of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs). After the international fallout over the decision to shut the offices of major INGO, Save the Children, earlier this year, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan seems to have continued to stick to his guns when talking about the operations of multiple national and international NGOs that mushroomed in the country during the Musharraf period. Questions have often been asked over the unregulated operations of thousands of organisations around the country. The concerns of security agencies have played a key role in determining the direction of the debate and are reflected in the fairly strict regulation policy that the government has approved. On Thursday, the interior minister announced the country’s first-ever policy to regulate the operation of INGOs. What is bizarre is that some INGOs have been working in the country for decades but the government did not come up with a tenable framework for monitoring their operations. The key aspect of the new policy is that all INGOs will now have 60 days to register themselves in a newly-created online registration system.
Despite the government’s promise to scrutinise the applications within 60 days and decide their fate, there remain questions over how much attention will actually be paid to the good work that most INGOs are able to perform in the country in terms of delivering human rights targets and welfare to the people of the country. According to Nisar, the policy will regulate the registration, working, funding, monitoring and other aspects of all INGOs. Approved INGOs will be allowed to work within specified fields after consulting with federal and provincial authorities in line with the ‘country’s priorities’. After approval, INGOs will be able to sign MoUs with the government for a period of up to three years. INGOs have been issued a strange warning to refrain from money-laundering, terrorist financing, weapons smuggling, anti-state activities and maintaining links with proscribed organisations. They have been warned not be involved in activities against Pakistan’s national interests or government policy. If found involved, the government has warned that their registration will be canceled. The first part of this dire warning appears to be without any tangible grounds, since no INGO has yet been accused of terrorist financing or money-laundering. Moreover, the fact that the cancellation of registration cannot be challenged in a court of law suggests that the government has created an ad-hoc framework for dealing with INGOs. While the need to register and regulate the work of INGOs is clear, the ad hoc-ism and paranoia that runs through this INGO policy needs serious revision.