Editorial
BB probe of Al-Haramain
Time to bring religious NGOs under scrutiny
The irregularities that the Bangladesh Bank has unearthed in relation to the finances of Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation merit further investigation. It is too early to tell how serious the breaches and how widespread the transgressions of the organisation are, or indeed whether any of its funds has gone into wrong hands with militant agenda, but the government must ensure that the investigation of Al-Haramain is conducted with the diligence with which some development NGOs have been examined.In the past few years many development NGOs have been the subject of extensive government investigation. There have been many allegations of mismanagement and corruption, and the government has been diligent and aggressive in probing into the finances and functions of select NGOs. However, while the government has been quick to investigate development NGOs, the wide network of Islamic NGOs have, for some reason, not been brought under governmental scrutiny, and have been permitted to operate with a fair degree of autonomy and freedom from oversight. This must change. Islamic NGOs must be subject to the same kind of close examination that all other NGOs experience in order that the government can ascertain that they are fulfilling their intended functions. It is worth mentioning, however, that the government has thus far been unduly lax in its oversight of Islamic NGOs, and the time is past due for it to inquire into whether the ideals of Islamic philanthropy and dissemination of religious education professed by them are being actually lived up to and whether correct standards have been maintained. Actually, we have to ensure that none of the NGOs take undue advantage of the deep religiosity of our people. It is important for the government to ascertain that all NGOs meet the criteria that have been set out for their operations, and to ensure that they do not serve any hidden agenda of clandestine objective. We hope that the irregularities that have been reported in the case of Al-Haramain are not the tip of the ice-berg, and that further investigation of both the organisation and other religion-based NGOs uncovers no evidence of wrong-doing. But until the government takes the decision to subject religious NGOs to the same strict scrutiny that other NGOs must endure, we will not know whether standards are being maintained and the people are being well served.
| 
