A meeting between the NGO Affairs Bureau, and the NGOs and the networks held on 16 May discussed at length the draft Foreign Donations (Voluntary Activities) Regulation Act, 2012. Both the NGOs and the Bureau expressed their views and concerns, and tried to comprehend each other’s points of view especially the line between ‘regulation’ and ‘control’. There were consensuses on a number of issues while a few matters need further discussion. Bureau’s involvements in such things as evaluation of project, revision of project proposals, necessity of permission for foreign visits, accusing and punishing in cases which should be taken care by existing laws of the land etc. were debated, and an amicable solution was arrived at on some while others were kept open for further considerations. It may be mentioned that the new draft law which was discussed in this meeting has been already a revised version from the original draft. Many of the provisions of the original, which were decidedly unacceptable to the NGOs, were dropped or modified because of the arguments put forward by several NGO representatives including FNB in earlier meetings with the authorities. 

The two and a half hour long threadbare discussion was attended by over sixty NGOs including networks and presided over by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister with the Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Gowher Rizvi as the Chief Guest. The Adviser referred to the NGOs as the main development partner of the Government while the Principal Secretary said that the NGOs are playing a vital role in the country’s development.

The Director-General of the Bureau said that the draft will be further revised incorporating the meeting’s inputs and posted at the Bureau’s website.