ISLAMABAD: Policy frameworks for dealing with civil society organisation must be rooted in legislation and should not be done by security agencies accused of human rights violations and excesses against citizens, said Senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday

Speaking at a meeting of the Functional Senate Committee on Human Rights, the PPP senator said handing over the task of registering international non-government organisations (INGOs) to security agencies is like asking the wolf to guard the lamb.

The committee was meeting to discuss reports of curbs on civil society actors, especially INGOs and NGOs working in areas of human rights, social justice, rule of law and enforced disappearances.

“It must find a place in the annals of world record that the fate of NGOs working for the recovery of missing persons is in the hands of those very agencies accused of involvement in enforced disappearances and also are not accountable,” he told the committee headed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement Senator Nasreen Jalil.

Senator Babar said the Economic Affairs Division used to deal with INGOs previously but now the interior ministry deals with them through a committee which also includes the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Asking security agencies to register INGOs is like asking the wolf to guard the lamb, Senator Babar says

As a result, more than half of the over 100 INGOs which had applied for registration were not allowed to operate in the country, he quoted from a reply to a question recently asked in Senate.

The meeting was told that the new policy was based on the Fatemi report which was never made public and it was demanded that the report be made public.

“We need to have appropriate legislation to ensure the smooth working of NGOs and there is also need for legislation to regulate the working of state agencies,” he said, and reminding the parliamentarians that the Senate Committee of the Whole had also endorsed a draft bill in this regard.

He urged the government to come clean on the recommendations of the Committee of the Whole and explain why it is unable to bring the agencies under legislation.

The meeting was told that Pakistan is signatory to international conventions on civil society organisations, the non-implementation of which can result in serious embarrassment at the time of GSP Plus review.

Members of the committee agreed that the government is only pleased with NGOs which relieve the state of responsibility such as the building of schools and hospitals and has also allowed banned outfits to engage in this.

The senators said the concept of ‘national security interest’ is increasingly employed to silence the voices of civil society organisations lest they express alternate ideas and opinions and dissent.

Additional secretary interior ministry Sher Afghan said the government welcomes the INGOs which assist the government in bringing betterment, especially in the lives of marginalised segments.

“However, background checks on INGOs are necessary. They can work anywhere as long as their objectives are stated and they operate according to that objective,” he said.

Of the 149 INGOs, 27 are not registered, he said, adding that six did not apply and the remaining 21 will be registered when they declare foreign contributions, provide an audit report and present a report of their activities annually, among other details.

Senator Mohammad Mohsin Khan Leghari also said INGOs need to declare their source of funds and how they are utilised.

“However, legislation to register INGOs should come through parliament,” Senator Leghari said.

During a discussion on the recent Universal Periodic Review of human rights record in Geneva, Senator Babar said that during the review from five years ago. Pakistan had agreed to a number of recommendations for criminalising enforced disappearances. He said no steps had been taken in this regard.

Similarly, the claim in the national report that blasphemy laws are non-discriminatory and that no one has been punished under them is not correct, the senator said, adding:” It will do us no disservice if we admit that the fair and just implementation of blasphemy law presents challenges that the state is trying to address”.

The claim of a strong commitment to protect the freedom of expression is belied in the face of undeniable facts and figures such as how the Cyber Crimes Act, 2016 has been misused by state agencies to stifle dissent in the name of national security considerations and for protecting the integrity of the federation, he said.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2018