Headlines
Pakistan suspends order to ban Save the Children
Islamabad, June 14
Pakistan's interior
ministry has suspended its order to shut down Save the Children
international aid organisation in the country, a media report said on
Sunday.
An assistant commissioner of Islamabad Capital Territory
(ICT) administration, along with the local police on June 11, sealed the
organisation's country office located on Margalla Road of Islamabad
after the interior ministry issued orders for stopping its operations in
Pakistan saying the charity was “working against the countryâ€, Dawn
online reported.
"The competent authority has desired that action
on above letter [to seal the charity] may be held in abeyance till
further orders," a confidential interior ministry statement said.
According
to the authorities, the international NGO was under strict scrutiny of
the country’s intelligence agencies after the killing of former Al Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden in 2011 by US Navy Seals. After bin Laden’s
killing, the intelligence agencies were convinced that the aid
organisation was used as a cover by the US spies hunting the Al Qaeda
chief.
A senior government official said the NGO's operations
were banned on the basis of credible intelligence reports and after
approval from the top levels of government.
Interior Minister
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said that no non-governmental
organisation (NGO) working against the national interest will be allowed
to continue its work in the country.
Khan also alleged that some
NGOs were working against the national interest of Pakistan with the
support of India, the US and Israel.
He added that they had been
receiving intelligence reports for many years but no action was being
taken. NGOs, whose numbers run into hundreds, have been operating
without any code of conduct, law and agenda.