Imran urged to end curbs on NGOs to complement progress on his reform agenda

NEW YORK, Sept. 3 (APP)::A prominent Pakistani journalist has urged Prime Minister Imran Khan to reverse previous government’s policies that are preventing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from carrying out their work that will also help him carry out his “ambitious” development and reform agenda.
“At stake is Pakistan’s democratic future,” journalist and author Ahmed Rashid wrote in The New York Times, while highlighting the prime minister’s determination to reign in elite corruption and increase spending on health, education and women’s welfare.
Rashid wrote in his opinion piece published Monday that Imran Khan needed the support of Pakistan’s battered and bruised civil society to carry out the important social programmes. He needed to put an end to the coercion civil society groups had faced from the previous government and help them to function effectively and without constraints.
Pointing out that Pakistan features on the lower margins of most international human development indexes, the article underlines the country’s “worst infant mortality rate.” A child born in Iceland has a one-in-1,000 chance of death at birth, while a child born in Pakistan has a one-in-22 chance, it said, citing the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Twenty-three million Pakistani children are out of school and millions of children enrolled in public and private schools can barely read or write.
“Pakistan needs all the help it can get,” Rashid, the journalist and author, wrote. “Mr Khan has to find the money and expertise to face these challenges when his government faces immense international debt repayments and collapsing revenues from taxes and exports.”
He added, “Several international nonprofit groups such as Action Aid, Asia Foundation, Mercy Corps and Open Society Foundation have worked in Pakistan for years. Civil society organizations have helped during national crises like floods; promoted education in remote, rural areas; and have worked with minority groups such as Christians and Hindus.”
Last year, it was pointed out Pakistan ordered 21 international nongovernmental organizations to renew their registration in the country. When they submitted new applications in December, they were denied registration, without any official explanation and were still waiting for a reply to an appeal.
Rashid wrote, “Various programmes run by these groups have been paralyzed for more than a year because of the uncertainty the government has created about their future. And tens of thousands of Pakistanis, who work for non-governmental organizations, face the specter of unemployment. Donors such as Western governments are hesitant to come forth.”
“Pakistani non-governmental organizations work under extremely difficult conditions, as they don’t have the option of leaving the country nor of effectively challenging clampdowns. Thousands of Pakistani civil society groups, especially the ones working to promote human rights, have been asked to renew their registration and submit answers to highly personal questionnaires. Foreign funding for these organizations has also been suspended.
“Mr Khan cannot make any real progress on his agenda of reform until he ends the curbs on civil society and enlists these groups in creating a better Pakistan.
“At present there is enormous good will for Mr Khan, but how long it lasts will depend on whether he will continue policies that are clearly harming Pakistan’s global image, undermining civil society and preventing NGOs from carrying out their tasks.”
The article recommended that policy decisions to return international nongovernmental organizations to their previous status were urgently required.