Pakistan -  Save the Children - A strange farce

The office in Islamabad of Save the Children, a prestigious international charity organization, was recently shut down by the government. A ministry of interior letter that leaked on June 14 revealed the government’s second thoughts about reversing their folly over the Save the Children issue. The management of this international non-government organisation (INGO) has said that they were neither given a notice for the closure nor the reopening of their Islamabad office. A policeman stands guard with a heavy iron lock looking formidably ominous on the gate of that office. After the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Abbottabad, controversies have circulated around this charity organization, including allegations about its affiliation with Dr Shakeel Afridi, the man who is said to have given away the whereabouts of the terrorist chief. Save the Children has adamantly and consistently denied any such involvement and has clarified that their sole purpose is catering to the needs of underprivileged, malnutritioned, unfortunate children in Pakistan. Save the Children has been operating in the country for the last 35 years. Their involvement in political matters is highly unlikely and not well grounded.

The government introduced new regulations for INGOs’ registration in November 2013. Around 150 INGOs applied for registration, of whom 19 were registered and five refused. The rest were given temporary permission to operate as some documentation was not complete in their cases. Amongst these, Save the Children last got temporary permission to operate in Pakistan in December 2014, which expired in May 2015. Reports speak of an interior ministry official clarifying that after the notification closing Save the Children’s offices was issued, it has now been held in abeyance. As Save the Children has said in response to this anomalous situation, it will not restart operations until the situation is clarified. Reports say a meeting is imminent amongst the finance ministry, foreign office, intelligence agencies and other concerned institutions to consider extending Save the Children’s temporary permission. What is not yet clear also is whether the government’s second thoughts are owed to its own re-examination of the issue or the US displeasure that has been expressed about a well reputed INGO being subjected to such treatment. The US State Department spokesperson has characterised the whole episode as Pakistan hurting itself.

The government now reportedly contemplates an audit of the income and expenditures of 100,000 local and international NGOs and charity organizations. New legislation to regulate their activities is also planned. This would be followed by a new mechanism for registration of those NGOs and charity organizations that are the recipients of foreign funding. This modus operandi has unnecessarily proved embarrassing to the country. The review, if at all it was needed, could have been conducted in a more discreet and less negative manner, avoiding the adverse reaction from Washington and perhaps other capitals. In the UN, Pakistan has recently had three African NGOs debarred from the world body for raising the issue of missing persons in Balochistan. All this may be happening under some plan, but it is being handled very badly. If the review of NGOs and charity organisations takes into account the Islamic charity organisations and madrassas receiving funds from abroad, that would have still been a positive step to ensure none of them are supporting extremism and terrorism inside the country. But in that area there is an absence of political will to control through registration and audit the activities of those organisations that may be actually working against Pakistan’s interests under the umbrella of religion. Instead, all the government’s misplaced focus is on arguably harmless INGOs and charity organisations, a thrust more likely to cause an adverse outcome for the country rather than any tangible benefits. Pakistan would be better served by a more rational and less knee jerk reaction against the INGOs and local NGOs and a more determined thrust against the purveyors of hate, extremism and terrorism who afflict state and society and need to be taken to task