Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said that any local or foreign non-government organisation (NGOs) pursuing foreign agenda against the national interest will not be allowed to operate in Pakistan. Talking to the media outside the Parliament House, the Interior Minister said the government has sufficient proof against the NGO -Save the Children-banned on June 11 for its involvement in activities against Pakistan's national interest for the last several years.
He added that intelligence agencies have several times presented reports against that NGO. He said that several countries have made a hue and cry after Pakistan imposed a ban on Save the Children, "which is unjustified". Nisar Ali Khan said that several NGOs have been working in the country for the last many years against their own charters. Our intelligence agencies have submitted reports but no action was taken. The Interior Minister said that a number of NGOs strictly registered for Islamabad were also operating in Balochistan and FATA without government permission.
He said that hundreds of NGOs are operating in the country without any code of conduct, law and agenda and action will be taken against them. "We do not want to ban any NGO but want to compel them to work according to their respective charters and in this regard, a year ago, the present government decided to regulate the functioning of all NGOs operating in the country," he said. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that two NGOs registered in Zambia and Guinea were operating in Pakistan and 'sending stories' from Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. "We had contested violations by these two NGOs in the United Nations' Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), but out of 15 member countries, three countries - United States, Israel and India - did not support Pakistan's stance and supported the stance of NGOs," he said.
"No country in the world can allow any non-government organisation to violate its law and constitution," he said. Nisar Ali Khan also appealed to all international NGOs and governments to respect the laws and constitution of Pakistan. "Government will not bow to any pressure against national interest," he said. He said that the government will welcome, facilitate and protect the NGOs doing their work positively and according to the law of the land. "But we will not allow those NGOs to continue their operations in Pakistan which work against the national interest of Pakistan under their umbrella," he said.
Nisar Ali Khan said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has constituted a committee headed by Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, to review the working of all NGOs. The government is also working on a policy to bring the NGOs under the domain of the country's law and constitution which will be finalised at the end of this year, he said.
The Interior Minister said that Shafqat Hussain was awarded death penalty according to the law of the land but some NGOs wanted to defame the judicial system of Pakistan. He said that Hussain was 23 years of age when he had committed murder, but he was portrayed as a child and his childhood pictures were released. "Pakistan has implemented capital punishment according to the constitution and its implementation will continue," he said.
Chaudhry Nisar said that no juvenile is being sentenced in Pakistan. "We respect the laws of other countries and expect the same from them," he said. To a question regarding a delay in hanging of Hussain, he said the Ministry of Interior has written a letter to Sindh government asking why Shafqat Hussain's hanging was stopped.
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