SUNS  4360  Tuesday  26  January  1999


Pakistan: NGOs under scrutiny in Sharif's home province



Lahore, Jan 24 (IPS/Amir Mir ) - Outspoken non-governmental organisations  (NGOs), particularly those run by women, have fallen foul of the  government in Pakistan's largest province, Punjab, which is led  by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's brother.

Ever since Sharif came to power two years ago, there have been  official murmurs of the government's displeasure with NGOs - seen  as meddling in politics and not doing the work they were set up  to do - particularly in Punjab.

Then Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered the  screening of the province's 30,000 NGOs, particularly those that  are foreign-funded and involved in "anti-state", "anti- religion", and "anti-social" activities.

But who exactly the government was after became clear on Jan.
7 when Punjab's Minister for Social Welfare Pir Binyameen Rizvi  launched an attack on NGOs, that are progressive and secular,  through a column in the Urdu-language daily 'Pakistan'.

"The horrifying aspect is that some NGOs have become a tool  of India and Indians frequently visit Pakistan," he wrote. "We  are all Pakistanis. Patriotism is more important to us than our  lives ..."

The target of the minister's attack was the Lahore-based NGO  headed by Nighat Saeed Khan, 'Applied Socio-Economic Research'  (ASR) which runs the pioneering Institute of Women's Studies  Lahore (IWSL).
  According to Nighat Saeed, the Institute offers post-graduate  studies which includes Marxism and Feminism - two subjects that  have never found official favour in Pakistan. What has caused  even more dismay is that the faculty has experts from all over  the world, including India, the country's sworn rival, on its  rolls.

Nighat Saeed though is standing her ground. The Social Welfare  Department is "fully within its rights to look into the  financial accounts of NGOs," she says but she reminds the  government that there is no law against teaching a curriculum  that enables the students to think and understand.

"This is our aim at IWSL. The teaching of Marxism is a part  of our curriculum since the ASR believes that a study of class  structure is relevant to the situation in Pakistan," she adds  firmly.

Binyameen under whose ministry NGOs must register however  demands that the "NGOs should restrict themselves to doing what  they were created to do."

What he does not want are "NGO people travelling in Pajeros,  using mobile phones and enjoying personal relationship with the  corrupt staff of foreign missions in the country, who have a  share in the donations coming to Pakistanis NGOs," he wrote.

He is dismissive of what he calls is an "angry reaction"  from NGOs now that the Punjab government has finally decided "to  hold up a majority (to) financial accountability".

"We are not against accountability but we do condemn the way  the Punjab government has launched a malicious propaganda  campaign against NGOs in the media. Genuine accountability should  always be done within the sphere of lawful authority," observes  Hina Jilani of the Women's Action Forum.

"NGOs have been playing the role of a watchdog on human  rights violations. They are serving the people not the  government. Hence they are responsible to the people only,"  asserts Nigar Ahmed of the Aurat Foundation.

She adds, "We know how to protect our rights entrusted in the  Constitution and we will move court whenever the need is felt."

The Sharif government feels the need to tame NGOs because it  knows they are the only real pressure group in Pakistan, says  Asma Jahangir, leading human rights lawyer. Since Pakistan's  return to democratic rule in 1990, NGOs have emerged as the  upholders of a liberal and secular tradition, and vocal defenders  of human rights.

"The major thrust (of NGO activity) is to empower a person,  which by its nature touches the political domain. And that is  simply unacceptable to the present government," comments Jilani  of the Women's Action Forum.

In her opinion the move by the provincial government was a  "vilification campaign" aimed at "punishing NGOs for opposing  the government's policies".

Prime Minister Sharif's attempt to make the Koran and Sunnah  the supreme law of Pakistan has evoked strong criticism from  NGOs, particularly women's groups who say women will suffer the  most.

At a press briefing last week, the NGOs Joint Action Committee  for People's Rights, an umbrella group, said the government is in  a panic on pushing through the 15th Constitutional Amendment Bill  or Shariat Bill, which is stuck in the Senate where Sharif does  not have two-thirds support.

Prime Minister Sharif has called for a joint session of the  National Assembly and Senate to clear the passage of the bill.

"The government is apparently unaware of the fact that the  entire political opposition has unanimously condemned the  proposed 15th amendment ... So have hundreds of prominent  citizens, lawyers and all the liberal and progressive NGOs,"  comments Rehana Hakeem, the editor of the monthly 'Newsline'.