ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to tighten laws for effectively regulating and monitoring activities of NGOs and charity organisations.

The decision has been taken in a recent meeting presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

The meeting which was held to discuss ways for choking of terror financing under the National Action Plan was attended by officials of the Ministry of Interior, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The federal government has also decided to block all banking services of NGOs if they fail to get themselves registered with relevant provinces within six months.

It was noted that the existing laws were insufficient to control terror financing and suspicious funding to both local and foreign NGOs and charities.

The documents of the meeting show that officials refer to religious-based organisations, including religious seminaries, as ‘charities’.

It has been decided that both federal and provincial governments will register all non-profit organisations (NPOs) or charities and the NGOs.

According to an official of the Ministry of Finance, the government has decided to streamline NGOs and charity organisations which are now registered under different laws.

Currently, NGOs and non-profit organisations are registered at various levels — starting from district level under a deputy commissioner’s office to a provincial government.

Local and international NGOs are registered with the federal government.

At the federal level local NGOs are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and international NGOs with the Ministry of Interior.

It has been decided that the streamlining of registration process of NPOs and NGOs by provinces will be completed within six months.

The official said if an organisation did not get a fresh registration by the end of June, all of its financial and banking services would be blocked.

Currently, the SECP was revalidating licences of NGOs registered with it.

The commission’s data shows that a total of 643 NGOs were registered with it by December, 2014.

Under the current regime all NGOs are required to get revalidated after every five years.

Pakistan is following the proscription process of UNSC-designated Pakistani based groups under the ATA-1997. The SBP has already directed the banking sector to bar banking services to proscribed entities and individuals.

Meanwhile, an official of the interior ministry said that the key issue was the need for a continuous monitoring and surveillance of proscribed organisations and individuals.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2016