ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Civil Society Forum (PCSF) and other civil society organisations on Wednesday noted with concern the attempts for curbing voices of civil society actors, mainly INGOs and national NGOs, working on human rights, democracy and social justice. The recent decision to disallow the functioning of several international NGOs is an attempt to control their voices and their abilities to access resources for promotion of people’s socio-economic and political rights, they said, and added that the current trend of state authorities to silent independent voices in media will be counterproductive and become further divisive for the Pakistani society. Senator Farhatullah Babar on the occasion said that the matter regarding working of INGOs should have been raised in parliament. He said he will raise this issue in Senate. Former senator Afrasiab Khattak was of view that by making such decisions, our policy makers were pushing Pakistan towards further global isolation. Director Human Rights Commission of Pakistan IA Rehman said that the act of government was totally unlawful and hence cannot be accepted. He said that the state was trying to silent the voices that play a watchful role for the rights of the people. Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), was of view that the state can lay out rules to regulate INGOs in Pakistan. However, asking 31 INGOs to close down without giving any reason was illogical. He said government must follow proper procedure in this regard. He said that the rejection of MOUs of INGOs may jeopardize Pakistan’s GSP Plus status which would be a huge loss considering the existing state of economy and trade deficit of the country. Muhammad Tahseen of SAP-PK on the occasion said that PCSF was perturbed on the lack of transparency in policy making which is blatantly arbitrary without taking into confidence the stakeholders and in total disregard to their contribution for the development of people of Pakistan. The decision shows total arbitrariness and adhochism followed by the federal authorities, he said, and added that the attempts by state bodies to harass NGO workers and those working for INGOs were a source of major concern. These attempts are creating a climate of fear and harassment and discouraging these organizations to speak for fundamental rights and democracy, he said, adding these policies were contrary to the national legal framework as well as Pakistan’s international obligations. Human rights activist Hina Jilani and Executive Director Aurat Foundation Naeem Mirza also shared their views about the issue on the occasion. They said that the civil society believes that no concerns or interests of the state can be served through any tactics that undermine the capacity of the civil society of Pakistan to further their work through international cooperation. Especially at a time when Pakistan is faced with multiple challenges of poverty, slowing down of economic growth, fight against extremism, international isolation and other daunting challenges, they said. The PCSF believes that the country is not progressing well on areas of basic education, primary health and economic marginalization and ending violence against women, minorities and vulnerabilities of the marginalized. These organizations which are making credible inputs and contributions in dealing with these challenges are facing such stern actions that will further undermine their work in dealing with these core challenges. Such policies will deeply undermine the trust even further and will take the real discourse away from the actual issues the country and its citizens are faced with. Published in Daily Times, December 21st 2017.