Pakistan "follows" Modi government footsteps, cracks down on NGOs, closes down Save the Children office

The sealed Save the Children office

By Our Representative
The Narendra Modi government has found "support" for its crackdown on civil society groups from unexpected quarters: Pakistan. In a move that should "please" the Government of India seeking to restrict NGO activities, the Islamabad authorities have charged well-known international child rights group Save the Children for carrying out "espionage activities", sealing its office.
"The crackdown comes at a time of constricting freedoms of expression and movement in Pakistan, and drew an unusually public rebuke from the State Department, whose spokesman, John Kirby, described Save the Children as a group that had 'long operated with transparency' in Pakistan", comments influential US daily New York Times (NYT) in a report from Islamabad.
The NYT report says, ever since 2011 Save the Children faced accusations that "a senior official with the group had helped the CIA recruit a Pakistani doctor who became involved in the hunt for Osama bin Laden." NYT quotes interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan as saying, “We will support those NGOs who are doing a good job. But we cannot allow anti-state NGOs."
While Save the Children office in Pakistan has been sealed down, NYT says, iMMAP, Washington-based data-analysis organization that works with aid groups, also simultaneously faced a similar fate after "Pakistani officials accused the group of mapping military installations."
Earlier, in 2014, the government closed the Norwegian Refugee Council amid official accusations that its staff had been collecting data from the tribal regions in an "unauthorized way", the daily says in a report titled "Pakistan Warns Aid Groups to Follow Unspecified Rules."
"Analysts warned that while military and intelligence agencies sought to uncover any Western espionage in the guise of relief work, in expelling Save the Children they also sought to signal that organizations working independently would not be tolerated", says NYT, quoting editor of a well-known Pakistani daily "Dawn" Cyril Almeida as saying, “The state is signaling that security comes before public welfare.” said , an editor at Dawn newspaper.
Saying that "an old paranoia is adjusting to new perceived threats”, NYT points to how Pakisani "the authorities have quietly attempted to nudge other foreigners out of the country in recent months, usually by refusing to extend visas." Already, it says, "a dozen Western organizations have been put under scrutiny."
The daily qoutes Asad Munir, a retired army brigadier and former officer with the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, the powerful military spy agency, saying that the ban on Save the Children "reflected a deeply ingrained mind-set that Western aid groups were working against Pakistani culture or, since the Bin Laden raid, engaged in espionage."
"Several analysts said that the restrictions were part of a broader effort, orchestrated by the military, to curb debate over human rights abuses in sensitive areas like Baluchistan, the southern province where the army has been accused of widespread torture and extrajudicial executions", NYT underlines.

Comments

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat." In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD* Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Why iconic Urdu book stall, publishing house Maktaba Jamia died an 'unnatural' death

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed* We have all grown through the fragrant flavours and flairs of our childhood, one of them being our childhood mother-tongue historic magazines like, “Thakurmar Jhuli” (Bengali), “Khilauna”, Payam-e-Taleem" (Urdu), “Hans” (Marathi), “Parag” (Hindi), “Chitralekha” (Gujarati), “Chandamama” (Telugu), etc. I “drank” Urdu while suckling his mother and learnt the language not from any madrasa, school or college but from these publications only — my treasure trove!

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi* The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the 2050 net zero commitments , a new study released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Evading primary responsibility, ONGC decides to invest Rs 15,000 crore in sick subsidiary

By NS Venkataraman* It is reported that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will infuse about Rs 15,000 crore in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) as part of a financial restructuring exercise. ONGC currently holds 49.36 per cent stake in (OPaL), which operates a mega petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat. GAIL (India) Ltd has 49.21 per cent interest and Gujarat State Petrochemical Corporation (GSPC) has the remaining 1.43 per cent.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sales, profits of Indian firms 'deteriorate', yet no significant increase in cost pressures

By Our Representative The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's (IIM-A's) latest Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), a monthly exercise, has said that while cost perceptions data does not indicate significant increase of cost pressures, sales and profits of the Indian firms have deteriorated.

Why Bangladesh is achieving 'new heights' amidst economic collapse of Pakistan

By Sufian Siddique* Pakistan's economy is on the brink of bankruptcy like Sri Lanka's. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have fallen below $3 billion. They have asked the IMF for a 'bailout loan' a long time ago, but the IMF is trying to impose strict conditions that Pakistan's current ruling coalition has no capacity to meet. Even China and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's long-standing loyal friends, are now reluctant to shoulder Pakistan's burden.

Search This Blog