Daily Times

An American International Non-Governmental Organization (INGO) Tobacco Free Kids is operating in Pakistan without legal status or registration with relevant authorities. According to the existing laws governing the Non-Government Organisation regardless of the fact that it is an international NGO or a local NGO it needs to be registered with Interior Ministry after due clearance from intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies. And it is illegal to operate without any registration. When this scribe approached the sources they confirmed that the INGO Tobacco Free Kids is not registered with ministry of Interior. In a time when Pakistan government is trying hard to get out of FATF grey list while the anti-Pakistan international powers wants Pakistan to be placed in FATF black list, working of an INGO without any registration and dealing different matters including funding at the ministry levels can become a serious threat to government affairs. According to sources, the INGO Tobacco Free Kids is regularly engaging with Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination (MNHSRC) on different projects. Sources in the Health Ministry to a query by this scribe said that they will also take this serious matter with concerned officials that how an illegal INGO is working with the ministry. Ministry of interior has a very stringent procedure to register any INGO. All INGOs are required to get registered in Pakistan if they wanted to operate in the country. Without registration, the INGOs cannot establish Execute their operations in Pakistan under the registration policy of interior ministry. It is worth mentioning here that INGOs receiving foreign funding, foreign contribution or financial assistance in Pakistan are required to get registered with the interior ministry. INGOs are required to declare all foreign funding with the interior ministry. However, Tobacco Free Kids is working illegally as so far it is not registered with Interior Ministry.