Safer charities awareness session organized

F.P. Report

KARACHI: To reinforce the implementation of charities regulation act in Sindh, Pakistan Peace Collective (A project of Ministry of information and broadcasting), National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) and Social Welfare Department Karachi held an awareness seminar in Karachi.

Addressing the seminar, District project coordinator of Pakistan Peace Collective, Rana Asif Habib outlined the collaborative efforts in making laws and regulations on safer charity. He also explained that every year in Pakistan 554 billion amount is given by Pakistanis as charity but according to research conducted by NACTA, 26% people are not aware of the usage of their given away charity. In order to ensure vigilance among people charities acts were passed in all provincial assemblies, making their implementation crucial for regulation of charitable donations all across Pakistan, he said.

Pakistan peace collective, Ministry of information and broadcasting Islamabad and NACTA are collaborating to ensure peaceful coexistence in society while focusing on countering hate speech and violent extremism.

At this seminar, Additional Secretary Social welfare department, Sindh Mr. Abu Bakar discussed in detail the formation of charity commission to monitor charities and provision of online registration facility. He said that Sindh charity commission will facilitate people in this regard, alongwith monitoring implementation of charities act in Sind as the main purpose of charity commission is to register charitable organizations to ensure usage of charity money for the right causes.

While addressing the seminar, Director (Outreach) NACTA listed the efforts made by NACTA for creating awareness about safer charity practices and other initiatives undertaken by NACTA to reach out to the masses and stakeholders. He informed that the list of proscribed organizations is available on NACTA’s website http://nacta.gov.pk for public awareness to enable a quick check about the legality of any charitable organization. He also briefed the seminar about the Outreach branch of NACTA and its role in educating and informing the masses about the safer charity practices and countering violent extremism. He listed the essay competition, poster competition, slogan writing competition, photo competition, short film competition, shoutout messages, mobile wrapping vans, wall painting exercise, youth awareness sessions and planned initiatives including SMS campaigns, Radio programs on CE, training workshops for stakeholders, facilitation brochures, slogans on national highways, and other initiatives. He said that every Pakistani should play an active role in building peace and national integration. He urged the audience to connect with NACTA through its website and social media and to share their comments and suggestions.

The briefings were followed by a lively and interactive Q&A session where the speakers answered the queries raised by the audience.