THE government’s typical style of dealing with issues of national importance in a haphazard manner and on an ad-hoc basis invited embarrassment on the diplomatic front last week, despite it being on the right track and exercising its sovereign right.

A knee-jerk reaction against a foreign non-governmental organisation (NGO) for not meeting standard operating procedures and then withdrawing the adverse step under pressure from the US and British capitals was a result of forgetting a law introduced in the parliament three years ago to monitor the flow of international funds into Pakistan through official and unofficial channels.

It was, however, quite clear that without a constitutionally protected legal framework, international pressure was hard to absorb, compelling the prime minister to intervene and allow a 3-6 month grace period to NGOs to get fresh registrations and complete other formalities.

The international pressure and the blockade of financial flows was no different when the government had followed legal recourse to deal with Dr Shakil Afridi, who had allegedly helped the CIA/FBI’s sting operation against Osama Bin Laden in Abbotabad. That had caused serious damage to the polio vaccination campaign and children at risk of disability.

In most cases, the administrative expenses of the NGOs go beyond 80pc, with little outcome

Pakistan is among three out of 183 countries that has failed to eradicate polio, and most of its polio cases have been from the very areas where Dr Afridi’s NGO was working for vaccination. The situation has reached a stage where Pakistanis have to be administered polio drops before they fly abroad.

It was in March 2012 that a bipartisan senate committee comprising senior parliamentarians like the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Prof Khursheed Ahmad, MQM’s Ahmad Ali, PPP’s Islamuddin Shaikh, ANP’s Ilyas Bilour, PML-N’s Ishaq Dar and PML-Q’s Tariq Azeem had unanimously approved the draft ‘Regulation of Foreign Contribution Bill 2012’ and forwarded it to the National Assembly.

But the bill could not get through due to a lack of follow-up by the relevant authorities and the 2013 national elections.

The senate’s standing committee on finance had noted at the time that over 100,000 NGOs of different sizes and operating in various sectors in the country were being governed by 12 different laws and 17 agencies; but it was unclear how they generated and spent their funds.

The role of the civil society, particularly NGOs, around the world is well recognised, but the need to keep their affairs transparent and within the boundaries of the law of sovereign states is equally important. More notably, in order to protect the productive contributions of good NGOs, it is also important that the black sheep among them are identified, barricaded and blacklisted.

Therefore, another effort was made through temporary instruments to streamline the role of civil society organisations and make them transparent, but this was without any legal cover.

In November 2013, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, instead of pushing through the previous draft, opted for a non-legal course by putting in place an interim policy — the Regulation of Organisations Receiving Foreign Contributions — to regulate foreign contributions coming via all NGOs receiving foreign funds.

Dar had referred the policy to the law ministry for vetting. It was meant to authorise the government to prosecute NGOs that violated the law of the land or misused foreign funds to the detriment of Pakistan, like by engaging in spying or exporting data and crucial maps.

The draft law has been going through various ministries but could not reach the parliament despite the incorporation of inputs from the economic affairs division, Federal Board of Revenue and the central bank.

The proposed law envisages imprisonment for up to six months if any person working with an international NGO (INGO) is found to have provided false information or sought registration through fraud or concealed facts.

It also requires that any person concealing or assisting any person in concealing or utilising any foreign contribution without registration shall be punishable with imprisonment of up to one year, or a fine of up to Rs1m, or both; and then going up for each contravention.

Any new INGO desirous of utilising foreign contribution within Pakistan shall require a prior registration with the federal government, while those that are already working here would be required to get registered under the proposed law within four months.

The registration would have to be made through the standard form of the interior ministry, the provincial government or the local government, leading to the signing of an MOU with the federal government. The MOU could be terminated and the registration cancelled for violation of the law, subject to a hearing.

Interestingly, the United Nations has been advising the government to put in place a mechanism for accountability and transparency in the NGO sector since the 2005 earthquake. This was in view of the rampant corruption in the society as well as in the NGO and commercial sectors, and to also give confidence to the donors that the funds they disbursed were actually spent on the targeted purpose.

In most cases, the administrative expenses of the NGOs go beyond 80pc, while the remaining funds go towards the activities for which the donations were made, with little outcome. In some cases, the physical verification of the utilisation of funds is thwarted by the local representatives of foreign NGOs through threats and other discouraging tactics.

The proposed law seeks to cap administrative spending at 20pc of the total, even though the ministry of foreign affairs had advised restricting these at 14pc, in line with international practices. It also calls on the NGOs to submit their annual accounts to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, June 22nd, 2015

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