IT should come as no surprise that clerics in
Mansehra have asked NGOs to sack their female
employees by July 30 or face being forcibly
stopped from working in their area. It is no
secret that right-wing elements in the country,
particularly the religious ones, see NGOs as
foreign-funded and inspired therefore un-Islamic
in motivation. The lengths to which certain
elements can go to discredit NGOs is what is
worrisome.
Earlier this year, a woman NGO worker
in the Kailash area was kidnapped in Peshawar and
released only after she paid a ransom of one
million rupees. She was still lucky compared to
an NGO worker who last year, along with her
teenage daughter, was killed in Dir, her crime
being that she worked for a women’s rights
organisation. Dir was also the focus of much
attention during elections when women were
prevented from voting until the Supreme Court
stepped in and ensured against forcible
prevention. NGO workers were then beaten for
encouraging women to exercise their right to
vote. These incidents show the scale of threats
and coercion NGO workers, especially women, face
in carrying out their work, especially in the
NWFP. This makes it imperative for the
authorities to provide security to NGO personnel
in Mansehra against threats of violence by
bigoted elements.
It is unfortunate that while governments seem
unwilling to undertake social work, those that do
are often obstructed in every possible way. It is
perhaps futile to argue with the clerics on the
valuable service NGOs render in promoting health
and education for the poor, for they are not open
to reason. But they simply must be allowed to
obstruct the good work the NGOs are doing for the
betterment of the people.