TAXILA / ISLAMABAD: A high-level meeting will be held on Tuesday to hammer out a comprehensive deal with international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) who were operating outside their remit.

Sources told Dawn that this was decided during a meeting between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, held on Saturday.

Tuesday’s meeting will be attended by representatives from the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, finance and the Economic Affairs Division, as well as law-enforcement officials.

Later, talking to reporters in Taxila, the interior minister outlined the government’s plans to tackle such INGOs, saying that all organisations had to pass through three layers of scrutiny before they were allowed to work in Pakistan. He said the new government policy would make sure their activities remained confined to the objectives they were registered for.

He said certain organisations were working outside their legal bounds and they would be investigated. “We do not want to ban any NGOs, but they will have to respect the code of conduct and [their] charter of registration.”

Nisar criticises MQM for ‘misinterpreting’ PM’s statement

The NGOs that were operating without being registered in Pakistan would be regularised, he said, adding that those involved in activities that were “against the national interest” would be proceeded against on the basis of information provided by security agencies.

Asked about India’s jingoistic rhetoric, the minister said Pakistan was ready to respond to any misadventure and would stand up to any challenge to its security. He said the civil and military leadership as well as the general public would stand united against all enemy designs.

He said all CNICs that were “sold” to non-Pakistanis would be blocked within the next few weeks and all those involved in issuing such cards would face the music.

KARACHI SITUATION: Saying that strikes were not the proper solution to problems, the interior minister said the government was committed to ensuring peace in Karachi. Being a democratic society, he said, the assemblies were a far more appropriate forum to take up problems rather than strikes or sit-ins.

He criticised the MQM and other political parties for what he called the misinterpretation of the prime minister’s Friday’s statement, saying this brand of politics was not good for peace in Karachi.

Asked to comment on MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s demand for an apology from the PM, he said Pakistan could only prosper if there was peace in Karachi and called on Mr Hussain and his party to support the government’s efforts to bring peace to the city. “Peace in Karachi is your responsibility too,” he remarked.

He also clarified a statement attributed to Sindh Rangers director general (DG), saying his words had been taken out of context. Chaudhry Nisar said that the DG was quoting a working paper on how to improve law and order in Karachi, when he said that more than Rs230 billion was generated annually in Karachi through criminal activities that were patronised mainly by a certain political party, and that a part of that money was also being used to fund terrorist and criminal activities across the city.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2015

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