ISLAMABAD: The federal government was severely criticised by its coalition partners in the Senate on Tuesday for having failed to maintain law and order in Balochistan and for banning international NGOs from operating in the province.

Speaking on a ‘point of public importance’, Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party lashed out at Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan for stopping Save the Children organisation from carrying out its activities in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas.

Mr Kakar said if the NGOs were involved in espionage and anti-state activities, they should be banned all over the country. It was strange, he said, that the NGOs were being allowed to function in Islamabad, Punjab and Sindh but the ministry had stopped them from operating in other parts of the country. “Can’t they do spying in Punjab and Sindh?”

He alleged that the interior minister had also stopped international donors from releasing funds for projects in Balochistan. He accused him of asking the donors not to go to Balochistan at the pretext that the situation there was not good.

JUI-F demands Karachi-like operation in Quetta

“On the one hand you are not giving us money for education, health, water and electricity, and on the other, you are stopping donors from giving money to us,” he said. “If you will not give us funds, we need international donors to help us in the social sector.”

Mr Kakar claimed that the NGOs like Save the Children had provided treatment to millions of children in Balochistan, KP and Fata and provided jobs to local people.

Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam urged the federal government to act effectively to bring the law and order situation in Balochistan under control, saying that the provincial government had failed to deliver. “The (provincial) government cannot control the situation even in Quetta and its red zone.” That required the federal government to play its role.

He alleged that the land mafia under the patronage of government functionaries and political figures was behind the ongoing target-killings in the province.

He asked intelligence agencies to curb the activities of terrorists who frequently travelled between Quetta and Afghanistan.

Hafiz Hamdullah demanded a Karachi-like operation in Quetta to cleanse the city of extortionists and criminals.

He asked the government to take notice of a TV show in which the participants had in the presence of Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir adopted resolutions against four marriages which was allowed in Islam and against the democratic system in the country.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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