In the time of “do-er” Shahbaz Sharif’s Punjab government, a brutish, uneducated fellow called Saad Rafique was the Muslim League’s prime NGO-basher. He was constantly foaming at the mouth about the “Westernised NGOs and their unholy agendas.” His bile was especially reserved for Non-Government Organisations concerned with the plight of women. In General Pervez Musharraf’s time, that dubious role has gone to Shahzad Waseem, the junior home minister. His recent fit in Mukhtar Mai’s case – calling NGOs “vultures and crows” – was also of epileptic proportions. He accused them of exploiting the issue “for a dinner with John and Johnny Walker”. He thundered about their bank balances and foreign funds. Not to be outdone, Nilofer Bakhtiar, the government’s advisor on, believe it or not, “women’s affairs”, said that the “country’s dirty linen shouldn’t be washed in public by NGOs with foreign-driven agendas.”
These are small fry whose bark is worse than their bite. But it is recurring remarks by General Musharraf against NGOs that are troubling. He says that “Westernised fringe elements” constantly seek to “bad mouth Pakistan”. He believes they are as bad as the religious extremists. His ire is mainly targeted at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. He simply cannot stomach Asma Jehangir, the HRCP’s brave and internationally acknowledged UN rapporteur. Ironically, the mullahs accuse General Musharraf of exactly the same thing. He is, they say, a “Western stooge pursuing an anti-Pakistan agenda”, while lambasting the NGOs and Ms Jehangir in the same vein.
But there is an even greater irony here. Who is the biggest recipient of Western funding in Pakistan? The Government of Pakistan (GoP), of course, which is up to its ears in debt of about US$38b. Who is constantly currying favour with the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc for handouts to develop the social sector ? None other than the GoP. Where do our finance ministers, prime ministers and governors of the State Bank come from? The World Bank and Citibank. Who is the greatest beneficiary of Western aid? The Pakistan Army, whose latest submarines and helicopters and fighter aircraft are all branded “Made in USA”, or “France” etc. Worse, who are Johnny’s best friends and the greatest guzzlers of Johnny Walker if not the Johnnies-come-lately of this “moderately unenlightened” regime from top to bottom? So if Western money and booze is sauce for the goose, why isn’t it sauce for the gander?
The NGO phenomenon is predicated on the failure of the third world state and governments to provide for their citizens, especially in the social sector. If these governments had fulfilled their part of the social contract, there would have been no need for donor agencies to shepherd NGOs into the delivery system. Therefore, the greater the state failure and government corruption, the greater the role of the NGOs in alleviating poverty, empowering women and protecting minorities. Under the circumstances, the more General Musharraf’s rails against the NGOs and belittles their achievements, the greater the ignominy he heaps upon himself in the eyes of the international community.
Who is there in today’s Pakistan, like Abdul Sattar Edhi, whose name and work will live long after our self-serving democrats and self-righteous dictators have turned to dust? The work of the Aga Khan Foundation for social uplift, of Akhtar Hameed Khan in the slums of Karachi, of Aurat Foundation and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan – yes, the HRCP – in defence of women’s and minority rights, will be lauded as noble efforts in the service of Pakistan’s defenseless.
What is it about empowering women and protecting minorities and defending children that so upsets every government in Pakistan? Is it because it exposes a government’s bankruptcy in combating these ills? But that is an argument to rectify a wrong, not put a blanket of deceit over it. Democratic and accountable governments are expected to make such violations of the law test cases in demonstrating sincerity and goodwill, instead of cursing the media for unveiling the truth or condemning the NGOs for demanding justice.
While governments are obsessed with hollow statistics of growth, most NGOs are genuinely concerned with life and death issues, where citizens are not the faceless masses but people with hopes and fears, aspirations and crushing disappointments. If it weren’t for many NGOs and courageous citizens like Mukhtar Mia and their determined efforts to uproot socially brutal practices from state and society, there would be no civil society – and by corollary, no spirit of democracy – in Pakistan. If it weren’t for the NGOs, and if we may say, the independent press, there would be no wave of revulsion against “honour” killings and gang rapes, there would be no incentive to reform the blasphemy and Hudood laws, there would be no interest in the plight of political prisoners etc. Indeed, were it not for the work of some trusted NGOs, our avaricious elites might not have been inclined to share their bounty to provide education and health care to the country’s poor. So let’s stop bashing them for daring to succeed where governments are hopelessly susceptible to failure.