ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry has declined permission to another 13 international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) to operate in Pakistan, raising the number of rejected cases to 23.

The number of INGOs to have been registered under the new procedure and policy has climbed to 73, while the pending cases have gone down to 20, with hopes that the process will finally be completed in a few weeks to meet the July 31 deadline set by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.

“Twenty-three INGOs have been refused permission in view of their past performance and projects or due to certain activities falling outside their domain and stated purpose of their organisation,” reads a statement issued after a meeting presided over by the interior minister.

The meeting — attended among others by the interior secretary, advocate general, Nadra chairman, acting director general of FIA and senior officials of the interior ministry, Nadra and FIA — had been convened especially to finalise the process of registration of the INGOs.

Speaking on the occasion, the interior minister said that the registration of the INGOs was critical vis-a-vis security of the state. He said that framing rules for the INGOs and registering them for the first time was a significant achievement which would not only bring transparency in the entire system of working of various INGOs in the country but would also strengthen partnership between the government and the non-government sector putting this equation on solid foundation of trust and spirit to complement each other. He also appreciated the role of INGOs towards making the registration process a success.

Chaudhry Nisar directed his ministry that those INGOs who could not secure approval during the registration process should be given right to make an appeal before the ministry.

It was decided that details of approved and non-approved INGOs, along with their past projects, would be placed on the ministry’s website after finalisation of the process.

Human trafficking

The meeting was informed that on the minister’s directions the FIA, with the help of Nadra, had developed a system for the processing of information received from multitude sources regarding the most wanted human traffickers and had also put in place a mechanism for real-time information sharing with the relevant stakeholders and its field units.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2017