Regulating the INGOs

The INGOs need to be kept in check to assess their role nationally

The regulation of the non-governmental and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has been the subject of debate, sometimes heated, for years. The international NGOs quite apart from frequent accusations of the misuse of very large amounts of aid money and services have been accused, often for no apparent reason, of having ‘agenda’s’ that are anti-state and even anti-Islam. The federal government decided to set up a regulatory process for the INGOs in an effort to bring some uniformity to a sometimes confused and confusing set of rules and regulations pertaining to their operation.

Many INGOs have been in an operational limbo, some have had operations suspended, and crucial human services have been interrupted. That said there is no doubt that corruption existed within the INGO sector and that there were organisations which did indeed have agendas which were questionable if not outright doubtful.

Some clarity has emerged with the announcement by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday 22^nd June that 73 INGOs have been granted permission to operate and undertake a range of humanitarian and socio-economic projects within the country having successfully passed the registration process. A further 23 INGOs were refused permission to operate and another 20 had their cases deferred for a decision at a later date.

Details of those which are approved and those not approved will reportedly be placed on the ministry website. Until that detail is in the public domain it is not possible to comment on the impact in broader terms that the decision will have. It is possible to say however that INGOs fill in the many blanks in the social care and security nets that are so threadbare everywhere. They also work in close collaboration with government agencies and some have decades of successful interventions across a range of needs. Government efforts at registration and regulation have been both ham-fisted and heavy-handed, and there is a suspicion that some INGOs, for instance at least one which works for electoral reform and oversight, finds itself unregistered because its work was something of an embarrassment for this and other governments. The line between registration and suppression is fine indeed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2017.

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