ISLAMABAD, March 4: The Ministry of Social Welfare has accepted some of the reservations of the civil society over the proposed code of conduct for NGOs and has agreed to revise the document.

“The ministry wishes to address concerns of NGOs and move ahead in partnership with the civil society,” an official told Dawn on Sunday, adding that the intention was not to put up a rigid face.

The revised code will be presented to stakeholders in a few weeks.

NGOs had opposed the government’s plan to introduce a code of conduct for regulating the civil society, saying it gave sweeping powers to authorities for stifling their voice. Leading organisations had boycotted an internet-based opinion poll conducted by the ministry on the proposed code, fearing that it would not be truly representative of their concerns because of its limited scope.

Earlier, the ministry was forced to extend the consultation process on the code of conduct twice because of stiff opposition from NGOs.

Interestingly, the decision about revising the code was communicated to NGOs through a foreign mission in Islamabad. Some NGOs’ representatives were invited to a meeting by the foreign mission for informal discussions, where they were told about the development by the International Programme of the Charity Commission for England and Wales, which was involved in drafting the code of conduct.

Strengthening Participatory Organisation’s Malick Shahbaz Ahmad confirmed the meeting convened by the foreign mission, saying they were told there by Phil Cooper, an official of the Charity Commission, that the ministry would revise the code in the light of NGOs’ ‘position paper’ and that the code proposed originally has been withdrawn.

Officials of the ministry deny involvement of any foreign mission in the code of conduct controversy.

They insist the code was “authored and owned” by the ministry and no one had the right to intermediate or speak on behalf of the ministry.

An official involved in the preparation of the code said the ministry only benefited from the expertise of the International Programme of the Charity Commission for England and Wales while drafting the code and the organisation had got nothing more to do.

The decision to revise the code met instant rejection with NGOs saying it fell well short of their demand for no regulatory controls. They, however, took it as a preliminary success in their campaign against the code.

“We stick to our fundamental position adopted in the position paper that there should be no laws and regulations that could obstruct the working of civil society,” said an NGO representative, adding they had no objection to endeavours for financial transparency and accountability in both government and non-governmental sector.