Islamabad : Amid US pressure, Pakistan today suspended its order and allowed international aid agency ‘Save the Children’ to resume operations, days after it sealed the NGO’s office here for alleged “anti-nation activities”. Halting its June 11 order to shut the office of the international NGO, which was embroiled in a controversy in 2012 linking it with US tracking down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, the government decided to let the organisation work till laws are formulated to streamline the working of NGOs in the country.
The suspension of the order comes after the US expressed concern over Pakistan’s crackdown on international charitable organisations and asked it to standardise and streamline a transparent process that will allow global NGOs to work legally in the country.
In a letter, the interior ministry said the earlier decision to ban the ‘Save the Children’ has been “held in abeyance till further order”, which means that the groups can continue its work as it was doing before, the Express Tribune reported. “The organisation can continue its work in Pakistan as it has been doing for decades until any further orders,” a senior official of interior Ministry was quoted as saying.
Pakistan has set up a committee to draft new laws to regulate the non-profit organisations. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had earlier said that parliament was “deliberating on exposing” the “many” foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) “working against Pakistan”. Nisar had said that non-government organisations working against the country’s national interest will not be allowed to continue their work in Pakistan.
Pakistan had previously linked the charity to the fake vaccination programme used by the CIA to track down al-Qaeda chief bin Laden. A Pakistan intelligence report had alleged that the NGO had linked to Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who the CIA allegedly used to carry out the fake vaccination programme. The charity had rejected any link with Afridi or CIA.
Sajjad Hussain
