RAWALPINDI: Local administrations with the support of police and intelligence officials on Friday sealed four offices of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Rawalpindi and Taxila under the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism and confiscated its record and equipment, Dawn has learnt.

The offices are located in Tench Bhatta, Peshawar Road, and New Katarian areas of Rawalpindi, and Kohsar Colony of Taxila. The NGO’s office in Taxila was located in a rented house.

Sources said that officials of the district administration after getting directives from the ministry of interior conducted raids on these offices and sealed them. They said the administration had taken accounts books, computers and other record of the NGO in its custody.

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A number of senior officials of the police and the district administration, however, remained tight-lipped about the allegations against the NGO on the basis of which they had carried out this operation.

The sources said that the action against the NGO, whose head office is located in a neighbouring country, had been taken after a “security audit” of the international as well as local NGOs. They said the NGO was running micro-finance programmes in various areas of the district and the action was taken after the government’s decision to tighten control over inflow of foreign funding after Pakistan was placed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2019