Govt making law to muzzle NGOs

The government has moved to formulate the foreign donations regulation act to muzzle NGOs so that they cannot speak against its misrule, BNP alleged yesterday.

“The aim of the bill is no organisation overseeing constitutional bodies can criticise the government,” BNP senior joint secretary general Rizvi Ahmed told a briefing at the party's central office.

A parliamentary body on May 18 recommended inclusion of a provision in the bill aimed at taking actions against any NGO for “insulting or deregulatory remarks” on constitutional bodies.

Actions will include stopping operations of the NGO.

The parliamentary committee on law made the recommendation while scrutinising the draft “Foreign Donations Regulation (Amendment) Act".

If the bill is passed in parliament with this

provision, the government will be able to stop the operation of any NGO if it humiliates parliament or a constitutional body.

At the briefing, Rizvi said after controlling media, the government had moved to control NGOs.  The government is enacting such a "black law" because it has understood that its fall is inevitable, he added.