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| October 8, 2001 | Monday | Rajab 20, 1422 |
Nazim threatens to stop NGO staff from entering UC limits
HARIPUR, Oct 7: Accusing the female staff of, Sungi, a non- government organization, of spreading obscenity, the Nazim of Rehana Union Council, Mohammad Riaz Khan, on Sunday threatened to stop the NGO’s female staff to enter the union council jurisdiction forcibly.
“We are not opposed to NGOs functioning in the area, but the way Sungi’s women visit and motivate womenfolk, particularly unmarried girls, for the formation of women committees and family planning related matters is highly objectionable,” he said while recording his statement with local newsmen here.
It may be recalled that Federal Minister Omar Asghar Khan had founded the Sungi Development Foundation in the early 1990s. The organization had faced the same trauma in 1999 when the religious circles of Balakot and Kaghan areas of upper Hazara created hurdles in its way. The issue was, somehow, resolved, reports stated.
Talking about the modus operandi adopted by Sungi’s female staff in several villages of Rehana union council, Riaz Khan, who is the brother of Gohar Ayub Khan’s private secretary for Haripur, alleged that the women workers put on objectionable dresses and lead on village women to form committees and adopt family planning codes in their daily life.
He expressed the fear that such motivation might lead the poor girls of his area astray, damaging the whole religious and social fabric of the society.
He pointed out that he received a letter from a local prayer leader, namely Maulana Sabir Shah, who asked him to stop Sungi’s women from entering the area, otherwise the local religious circles would launch a campaign against Sungi.
Riaz also termed Sungi’s development projects an eyewash and made a tool to draw money from donor agencies and gain political mileage by its former director Omar Asghar.
He said that recently Sungi had installed over two dozens hand pumps in the area to oblige only those people who had been supporting Omar Asghar. But he can never get his designs fulfilled, Riaz said, adding that Omar could obtain only 92 votes from 18 villages of the union council in the past general elections.
Riaz Khan also accused the federal minister for creating hindrances in the development projects launched by other NGOs in the area.
Commenting on the recent visit of US Ambassador in Islamabad to Rehana, the union council Nazim that the local community had pinned hopes on the visit of a foreign dignitary to the area, adding that it proved a futile exercise.
When the local Sungi’s office was contacted for comment on the issue, no responsible person was available.
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