NGOs debate proposed law

Pakistan is seized by a raging debate over new laws regulating civil society and NGOs, thousands of which operate across the country providing crucial assistance to millions, aid workers told IRIN on Wednesday. Critics of the proposed law say it is an attempt by Pakistan - where 40 percent of the population of 140 million live in poverty - to regulate civil society organisations under a powerful commission and to bring them under the control of the government. But those backing the bill say the proposal merely provides an "enabling" environment for the NGOs to carry out their work as partners with the government, while enhancing efficiency and transparency in their operations. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, head of the Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy (PCP), told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, that her organisation had prepared the draft of the law after countless meetings with all the stake holders, incorporating their views and objections. "Our guiding principle has been to improve the existing law. If the new law is better than the present one why oppose it?" she said, explaining that the existing two laws were either extremely lax or very stringent. Pakistani civil society organisations work under the ancient Societies Registration Act of 1860 and the Voluntary Social Welfare Agencies Ordinance of 1961. Both the critics of the new law and its proponents agree on one point - that there is a need to reform the laws, which are outdated and out of touch with reality. "We have two apprehensions, one about the kind of laws being proposed and the other is the intent of the law," Khawar Mumtaz, coordinator of the Pakistan NGO Forum - representing close to 3,000 NGOs - told IRIN from Lahore, capital of the populous Punjab province. "We want that the existing laws should be reformed and we have made suggestions to the government about that," she explained, adding that the forum did not agree with certain parts of the proposals put forth by the PCP. These include setting up a commission, whose members are recommended by a minister and approved by the prime minister, to regulate and monitor NGO activity. Mumtaz also took exception to government hastiness in passing the law, despite opposition from a sizeable number of NGOs and their representatives. "What's the haste, why cannot it be left to an elected government?" she asked. But Qazi Aleemullah, fiscal advisor at the PCP, told IRIN that the government wanted to carry out the maximum number of social reforms before the October elections. President Pervez Musharraf plans to hold general elections in the country in October under a Supreme Court deadline. Having promised to reform the political landscape as well as the economy, he has also suggested sweeping constitutional amendments that have been strongly opposed by political parties and several civil society organisations. A Pakistani official told IRIN that the government had entrusted the PCP to come up with the draft so that it could be incorporated into law before elections were held in October. "Our intentions are to make NGOs more efficient and transparent, there is no intention to control them. We believe the NGOs are partners of the government," said the official, who asked not to be named. But Shafqat Muneer, a researcher at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, told IRIN that the government would have tremendous influence in the commission because it would be appointing the members - this could make NGOs feel threatened. "The NGOs are apprehensive that the proposed law can be used by the government to victimise some NGOs out of the total of 45,000 that are working on various issues of public interest," Muneer added. He said also that many donors were not comfortable about working with the governments of developing countries due to corruption and bureaucratic red-tape, preferring to work with private non-profit groups. "The influence of the government on the NGOs will increase with the proposed law and there is a genuine fear that such donors will pull out," he added. Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) - a key donor - had received the draft from the Ministry for Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education in July, its official said. "We are reviewing the proposed law and will send our comments to the Ministry for Women Development...in a week or so," Nighat-un-Nisa, DFID's programme officer in Islamabad, told IRIN. Based on information received by IRIN, international donors understand that under the proposed law an NGO does not need the approval of the commission to obtain funds from abroad, though they would have to file accounts in certain circumstances. "This should not discourage the donor community. The proposed law gives no power to the commission to approve or disapprove foreign funding," an official of an international donor group told IRIN. The official did not want to be named. The government said it had no evidence donors wanted to stop or cut back work in Pakistan because of the proposed legislation. "In fact NGOs have been operating under outdated laws and the new law would make them more accountable, which will increase their attractiveness to the donors," he maintained. Aleemullah said because of the poor implementation of the existing laws, about 40 percent of the NGOs were not even registered with the government even though it was mandatory. The proposed law envisages making registration voluntary, while a must for those groups seeking funds from the government and from foreign sources. "The intention is to reform the whole sector," Shahnaz Wazir Ali said. "It is up to the government to decide when it makes the draft into a law," she concluded.