ISLAMABAD: USAID Pakistan project has come under trouble as the said programme has been alleged to be involved in the anti state activities inside Pakistan.
USAID launched its Citizen Voice Project in 2011 to foster links between the government and the citizens in Pakistan through some local NGOs. The activities under the project apparently started in areas of energy, water and citizens oversight of municipal services.
“But in pursuance of the vested national interests of USA in this country and the region, the USAID has now been entered into a sensitive areas” facilitating people, especially women, in acquiring CNICs and getting registered as voters, the petitioner states.
“The concepts and scope of the humanitarian assistance, charity, human rights and democracy are not absolute and never allow any state to intervene into the internal affairs of other states or violate the fundamental rights of citizens.
The petition has been filed in the High Court which alleges that the ‘hidden’ objectives of the USAID through such activities are to collect data and information, penetrate into social structure, influence the political process, sabotage development projects, cause destabilisation and create security problems for Pakistan under the pretext of humanitarian assistance, human rights and democracy.
“The USAID also intends to create hurdles in the way to pursue an independent foreign policy towards neighbouring countries and the Muslim world as well as to damage our international standing,” he says.
The role played by the USAID in the past was controversial because the agency was behind many anti-state activities which resulted in undermining the sovereignty and security of Pakistan, he alleges further.