On Monday, the country’s leading poet Ms Kishwar Naheed who runs an NGO, Hawwa Women Craft Cooperatives, was approached by an official who said she was from the Ministry of Defence and wanted Ms Naheed to fill a form giving details about Hawwa. “She was a young well groomed lady, who said she was here from the Ministry of Defence and wanted me to fill a form giving details about Hawwa. When I demanded to see some sort of identification, she showed me her identification papers which clearly showed that she was working for the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). When I asked her why she was lying, she said I must speak to someone, who she got on her phone,” Ms Naheed told The News.
A ‘major sahib’ came on the line and requested Ms Naheed to fill the form.“I have years of working experience and demanded that there should be a letter of authority requesting that a certain form should be filled and why. If it is an authoritative letter, I will not hesitate to fill it, as I have nothing to hide.
I told the ISI official that she should leave the form and I will have a look at it,” added Ms Naheed.Soon the lady from the ISI talked to the ‘major sahib’ once again, and later asked Ms Naheed to return the form and then left.
Later a representative of an international NGO told The News: “The ISI has certainly changed its manner of functioning and has now recruited young and pleasant-mannered ladies. It appears the era of the major sahib and colonel sahib walking into offices and homes has changed. But this ISI official was a complete novice. No spook ever reveals which agency he or she is working for, rarely shows identification papers and normally spooks name another agencies for cover.”
The News had recently reported that the government was in the process of bringing in a fresh law for all NGO’s working in Pakistan. The ISI questioner had questions related to the workings of NGO’s but it is not clear as to why before the new law has come into effect this exercise is being taken up.
“The ISI is a national institution and if it has some genuine questions about Hawwa, I do not have any problems. But this visit by the ISI has left me very uncomfortable,” says Ms Naheed.Representatives of local and international NGO’s when they heard about the experience of Ms Naheed feel they should meet the minister of defence to get some clarity about these new forms for NGO’s and whether the Ministry had been taken into confidence by ISI about this new procedure.Telephone calls made to the ISPR and Ministry of Defence and text messages to get their side of the story remained unanswered.
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