ISLAMABAD: The Planning Ministry is not only providing sensitive information to international NGOs but also empowered them to attend in-camera meetings related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Daily Times has learnt.
With the advent of CPEC, these NGOs are improving ties with Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and other high-ups of the ministry. To increase their influence, they are making collaboration with the ministry on different initiatives such as civil services reforms, sustainable development goals and peace and developments initiatives whereas some of the projects initiated by these NGOs only exist on papers.
In return of their cooperation, the INGOs are enjoying the government’s shelter and some even have no presence on the official record such as the Peace and Development Unit, funded by the US State Department and headed by Special Assistant to the Planning Minister Asim Khan Niazi, who prior to this served in the PMLN Central Secretariat.
The US-funded United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has reportedly set up a Peace and Development Unit (PDU) in the Planning Ministry and Niazi is currently working as a programme director of the unit along with four subordinates, including Senior Research Fellow Ahmad Butt.
Daily Times further learnt that it can be seen that USIP is an US institution which works in conflict zones of the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Pakistan. The institute works closely with the US State Department and the Defence Department.
The so-called senior research fellow of USIP, who is a LUMS graduate, has failed to publish any single research paper or thesis to contribute for peace and development so far, but he is required to frequently travel with the minister on the expense of the Development Communication project. His one of the recent visits to Balochistan along with the minister and special assistant has reportedly raised eye brows of law enforcers because of his affiliation with the US and travelling to India in the recent past.
The USIP employee, whose office is in the CPEC Secretariat and equips with audio/video recording devices, attends the in-camera meetings, especially related to Gwadar and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in the name of managing official social media.
The CPEC Secretariat was established in the Planning Ministry after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between China and Pakistan on 20 April, 2015 in Islamabad. The involvement of INGOs itself is in violation of the MoU which states that any confidential information related to CPEC shall not be shared with the third-party without prior written consent of both parties, and shall remain protected for a period of five years.
The critics of USIP claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) assigns officers and employees to the institute and nearly half of its board played a role in Iran operations, while the US Navy has provided the land, located in the Washington DC, for establishing its permanent headquarters.
The United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) is another INGO which is also trying to increase its influence inside the ministry through heavy investment under the shelter to provide support for governance reforms and sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Civil services reforms summary rejected by the prime minister was drafted by the UNDP to fulfill their agenda.
Last year, the ministry signed $11.6 million agreement with the UNDP to support the implementation of key governance reforms at the federal and provincial levels.
In another agreement, the UNDP is providing Rs 1 billion to the ministry for establishing SDG centres in the ministry, sources said.
UNDP has hired a close relative of Special Assistant Asim Khan as a coordinator in the ministry regarding the civil service and governance reforms, and a special office in front of the ministerial office is allocated for her. The room is supposed to be allocated for a public relations officer (PRO) but at least eight PROs have refused to serve the ministry due to such suspicious work environment.
In spite of research work on civil reforms, the UNDP official’s presence could be observed in in-camera meetings such as CDWP and other internal meetings of the ministry. Although she has completed her master’s degree in social psychology from the London School of Economics, but she is also taking care of the ministry’s official website just to get an easy access to the ministry’s sensitive data, sources in the ministry’s computer centre confirmed.
After the carnage of 16 December 2014 in Army Public School Peshawar, all political parties and stakeholders agreed on 20-point National Action plan (NAP) in which the stakeholders emphasied to de-limit the role of INGOs and multinational companies.
Former army chief General (r) Raheel Sharif in his address to the IDEAS Conference in Karachi, also termed the presence of INGOs threat to the national security.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on several occasions said that the PML-N government has failed to implement NAP. Special Assistant to the Planning Minister Asim Khan told Daily Times that the ministry signed an MoU with USIP and it is providing assistance related to the Peace and Development Programme. The agreement will end in the current month.
When asked why the ministry allotted office to UNDP official Shiza Khan and why she was allowed to update the official website, Khan said, “We did not make Shiza in-charge of official website. She just overviews the lingual and grammatical mistakes in the articles. Without my permission no content is uploaded on the website,” he added
http://dailytimes.com.pk/islamabad/19-Dec-16/ingos-sticking-their-nose–into-cpec—
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