PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Monday issued notice to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa home secretary seeking his explanation on the non-issuance of no objection certificate to a nongovernmental organisation by the government for working in the province and Fata.

Justice Qaisar Rasheed and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued the order after preliminary hearing into the petition of Paiman Alumni Trust, which insisted it is a well-known NGO registered with the government under the law and had successfully executed several projects in the country, including Fata.

Ameenur Rehman, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client had launched around 85 projects in all four provinces and Fata and of them, 67 had been completed including 20 in tribal areas.

He said as the security situation in the country had severely deteriorated, it had become necessary for NGOs to procure NOC from the relevant state authorities to continue their work.

Paiman Alumni Trust claims it’s registered with govt, executed several projects in country including tribal areas

The lawyer said in compliance with the new procedural requirement the petitioner time and again applied for the issuance of NOC from state authorities for its various projects.

He added that from 2010 to 2015 the state authorities had issued NOCs to the petitioner for 42 times.

He said in late 2015, his client had applied to the additional chief secretary Fata, Fata Disaster Management Authority and Directorate of Projects Fata secretariat for issuance of NOC in order to continue work in seven agencies of Fata.

The lawyer added that the FDMA issued regret letters on Mar 30 and Apr 13, 2016, to the petitioners and declined to issue it NOC.

He said no reason was given in its regret letter.

The lawyer said his client addressed a letter to ACS Fata on Apr 15, 2016, and subsequently another letter on Apr 22, 2016, to the Fata secretariat asking them to prove reason why it was not being issued the NOC. However, he added that no reply was given.

He said during same period, the petitioner was informed through its local offices that Paiman had been banned to operate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The lawyer said through a letter issued by KP Home Department on Apr 18, 2016, which was neither shared with the petitioner nor addressed to it, the government had ordered the ban on activities of Paiman in all districts.

He added that within few days, nine offices of the petitioner having 250 staff members in KP and Fata were closed.

The lawyer said in similar manner the Punjab government had issued letter on Jun 27, 2016, to ban activities of the petitioner organisation.

COMMENTS SOUGHT: The bench sought comments from the National Accountability Bureau on the four petitions filed by Pak-PWD divisional accountant Mohammad Shafiq seeking pre-arrest bail in four references filed against him and some other accused by the bureau.

Mudassir Amir, lawyer for the petitioner, said the NAB had filed four references against the petitioner accusing him of misappropriating public funds in development projects and water supply schemes in Malakand division.

He said the high court had earlier granted his client pre-arrest bail in the four cases through a joint petition.

The lawyer however said the NAB had challenged the high court’s order before the Supreme Court through an appeal on the ground that the petitioner should have filed four different petitions, whereas he had filed a single petition.

He said if the apex court accepted the appeal of NAB and issued directives for the filing of four separate petitions, the pre-arrest bail of his client could be recalled and in that case, he might be arrested.

The lawyer said his client considered it appropriate to approach the high court again and file four separate pre-arrest bail petitions.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2017