ALI SUKHANVER

A recent report on the role of NGOs in Pakistan says that a Karachi-based NGO has been apparently working for the betterment of labourers but inwardly it is working for the hidden interests of Pakistan’s ever-worst hostile country India. The report says that Idara-e-Ilmo Aagahi has allegedly distributed Indian books in more than 150 primary schools of interior Sind. These books are published from Indian cities New Delhi and Bangalore. Report says that on the face of every book ‘Read India’ is printed. The runners of this NGO plead that they have distributed these books in few schools of Lasbaila, Quetta and Interior Sind. They say that they have acquired permission from the Secretary Education Sind for distribution of these books in Sind. In his writ-petition a resident of Khairpur Sind has asked the government of Sind to ban these books because there is objectionable material in these books. This report has put a question mark on the working of NGOs in Pakistan.

Throughout the world thousands of NGOs are providing helping hands to their respective governments in solving the issues of hunger, poverty and diseases. As far as the overall working of NGOs is concerned, NGOs play a very positive role in betterment of society. No doubt precious are those who spare their time and spend their resources on forming and running of NGOs. But sometimes these NGOs become so strong that they start influencing government policies and decisions. According to a report published by the European Council on Foreign Affairs (ECFR), Chinese government agencies are working towards establishing the first law on NGOs which would cut to the heart of China’s relations with the West and Europe in particular. Senior Policy Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia and China Program Mathieu Duchâtel says that recent events such as the Arab Spring and the emergence of the Ukraine conflict have persuaded Beijing that the West is pursuing a strategy of regime change” that will ultimately target the Chinese Communist Party. The NGO law will allow the Ministry of Public Security to prohibit foreign NGOs from operating on Chinese soil if these organizations endanger China’s national security. Same is the case in most of the countries with the NGOs.

The basic aim and objective of NGOs must be to fill a gap in government services but unfortunately throughout the world a very few of the NGOs are limited to the work they are meant for. A lot of NGOs are found involved in the activities usually termed as illegal and anti-state. In some countries NGOs are found involved in criminal activities also. Particularly in India, the situation is most horrible. A report published in the ‘Care for Bharat’ says, India has 3.3 million NGOs or in other words one NGO for every 400 individuals. This may seem like a large number and it is. Many of Non Governmental Organizations in India are either dormant or fraudulent.  They are used for a wide range of illegal activities such as tax evasion and misappropriation of government funds.”Some of the NGOs work as MLOs too. MLOs are the Money Laundering Organizations sometimes involved in illegal money-transfer and money-laundering. Recently US authorities revealed the arrest of Altaf Khanani a well-known Pakistani money-changer for his involvement in laundering funds for designated terrorist organizations. The US Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a statement, The Khanani MLO facilitates illicit money movement between Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and other countries, and is responsible for laundering billions of dollars in organized crime proceeds annually.” There have been reports in media that this MLO is allegedly involved in facilitating some of the ethnic political parties and terrorist organization in transferring their money outside Pakistan , earned by extortion and other criminal activities in Karachi.

Usually NGOs are funded by governments, foundations, businesses, or private persons and some are run primarily by volunteers but in some cases hostile countries and hostile agencies also use them as their tool. For the people of Pakistan and the security agencies of Pakistan there was nothing shocking or appalling in this news because it is a routine practice of India to induct its agents in Pakistan using different means and sources. Sending secret-agents to the hostile countries in nothing new and queer but keeping an eye on their working is the responsibility of the government. Although the security agencies of Pakistan are very much vigilant and alert regarding the presence of the Indian agents in Pakistan yet there is a dire need of some strong legal frame work to put a check on the activities of these agents. Most of these agents take shelter of some NGO and try to intrude the social fiber of the Pakistani society. People will have to be very much careful in their dealings with NGOs.