K-P to crack down on banned outfit fund collection

According to reports, few banned organisations have been collecting zakat, fitrana and donations from general public

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government has decided to give teeth to a law barring banned outfits from collecting funds.

The provincial government has directed all the relevant departments to take stern legal action against those individuals and organisations who are involved in collecting illegal donations from the general public, Radio Pakistan reported on Saturday.



An official handout issued in Peshawar says only those organisations can collect donations, which have been registered with the federal or provincial government and have submitted audit reports of their income and expenditures.

The organisations, which have been sanctioned under Counter Terrorism Act 1997, cannot collect donations under any circumstances, the handout said.



Pakistan had formally declared over 200 outfits as proscribed organisations in 2015. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had banned 171 organisations, while the Interior Ministry banned 60 more organisations. These organisations include extremist, sectarian and secessionist groups.

However, according to reports, few banned organisations have been collecting zakat, fitrana and donations from the general public. This Ramazan, the authorities in K-P had to warn the public not to give donations to these groups.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2017.