February 15, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 26, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 14: The non-governmental organisations on Wednesday rejected the proposed code of conduct for NGOs as mala fide and, politically motivated, ambiguous and contradictory to the law of the land.

Speaking at a seminar on “Code of conduct for NGOs: a civil society perspective”, the NGOs representatives and experts saw it as a move by the government to distract public attention from important national issues.

The seminar organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) was addressed besides others by Shahnaz Wazir Ali Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP), Harris Khalique of Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO), Mohammad Tahseen of South Asia Partnership, (SAP) and Meraj Humayun Khan of De Las Gul (Peshawar) and currently heading the all-Pakistan NGOs Forum.

Former federal minister Shahnaz Wazir Ali said that circumstances evidently suggested that the move for introducing Code of Conduct for NGOs was basically initiated from within inner circles of the government to achieve political objectives.

She questioned the intent behind it and demanded that the government should make the consultation process broad-based, transparent and participatory in which all stakeholders could give their input before the finalization of such important matters. The draft Code of Conduct was unnecessary and redundant, and thus is not acceptable to civil society.

Harris Khalique endorsed this view and added that the CoC is not only politically motivated, but is also seeking to further confuse and cause conflicts between the various existing laws and Regulatory bodies governing the not-for-profit/NGO sector, e.g. SECP, Social Welfare, Trusts, Companies Registrar, Cooperatives, Industries, Wafaq-ul-Madaris for Madrassahs, etc.

He strongly objected to the use of the English language in which the CoC is drafted, and the fact that it is ONLY accessible on the internet, whereas the vast majority of rural NGOs/CBOs have neither access to electricity nor to computers and the internet; and also that the CoC was prepared by the UK-based consultants from the Charities Commission thus it is not an indigenous exercise.

Muhammad Tahseen informed the audience that while codes of conduct are not under objection in principle, it is in the intent, manner, process, implementation and the rationale behind this CoC that we question. Further, this CoC will be the precursor to a new Bill to curtail NGOs freedom.

He reminded the audience of the three previous attempts at introducing such draconian Bills — under Benazir Bhutto’s and Nawaz Sharif’s second tenures, as well as a third under Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Each time the vigilant NGOs had rejected what he termed mala fide moves and ulterior motives of successive governments.

Naeem Mirza of Aurat Foundation, on behalf of ALL the NGOs named in the Ministry of Social Welfare’s recent press release, categorically denied that those NGOs had endorsed the Government’s draft CoC in any so-called ‘consultation’.

A total unanimity of views amongst all civil society participants emerged in a lengthy question answer session for outright rejection of the CoC.