ISLAMABAD: After announcing its intention to regularise international non-government organisations (INGOs) in November 2013, the federal government has been continuously “avoiding” signing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with almost 130 national and international NGOs for the past year and a half, Dawn.com learned via sources.

An official from the ministry of Economic Affairs Division (EAD) said INGOs had initially been working in the country after signing “open-ended agreements” but the PML-N government introduced a regularisation policy in November 2013, whereby agreements of up to a maximum of five years were to be signed with such bodies.

Explore: Humiliation, uncertainty plague staff of banned INGOs.

The official said around 150 NGOs, a majority of them international, submitted relevant registration documents under the new policy in early 2014. But he said so far the ministry had signed MoUs with 19 INGOs only.

For a list of the 19 INGOs approved by the government, click here.

“The ministry is issuing interim permission letters, allowing such organisations to continue operations for four to six months, while the management of these NGOs has been constantly asking the ministry to sign MoUs with them,” the official added.

The EAD official went on to say that following intelligence reports, the government had also set up an inter-ministerial committee to recommend improvements in existing rules and procedures for screening, regulation and monitoring of INGOs.

An official from the federal interior ministry told Dawn.com that a committee comprising officials of the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, economic affairs division and intelligence personnel will meet during the next two days to formulate a cohesive strategy to regulate working of INGOs.

“The new government policy will make sure their activities remain confined to the objectives they were registered for,” the official added.

Confusion persists

Saeed Ahmed Minhas, a spokesman for Save the Children, told Dawn.com that the management of his organisation had not received any official intimation to close or to continue operations in Pakistan on June 11 or June 12.

Also read: Interior Ministry suspends order to close 'Save the Children'.

“Although our management had written a letter to officials at EAD to explain reasons behind the notification to seal our office in Islamabad, it did not receive any response from the EAD in this regard,” Minhas said.

He further said that the EAD had issued an “interim permission letter” in December 2014, allowing Save the Children to continue operation until May 15, 2015.

A representative of Save the Children in Peshawar said the management had already issued one-month notices to employees in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, adding that the organisation was going to close its operations in both provinces.

The representative said field offices in KP and Balochistan had received a letter on May 7, 2015 from their respective district coordination officers, ordering closure of offices because the government could not “allow the organisation to work in conflict areas.”

“Our Country Director Farhana Farooqi also visited offices in Peshawar and Quetta for a final ‘good bye’,” the representative said.

However, Saeed Ahmed Minhas said the organisation was “voluntarily” closing operations in both provinces.

He also said Save the Children’s management was waiting for the government’s final decision on the signing of an MoU to allow continuation of operations in Pakistan.

Mustafa Talpur, an advocacy officer at Oxfam GB, also says his organisation has been waiting to sign an MoU with government for well over a year. “Officials of the EAD ministry have verbally communicated to our management that our registration case is still under process,” said Talpur.

When contacted, an additional secretary of the Interior Ministry said EAD had already rejected no-objection certificates (NOCs) for several INGOs but the government had decided to review applications under a new policy which will be formulated within the next few days.

The secretary also said that managements of INGOs needed to submit a letter of endorsement from their respective embassies in Islamabad, which made it difficult for the government to suspend operations of any INGO without sharing reasons in this regard.