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Afghanistan: NGOs await ruling on "proselytizing" case

KABUL, 5 July 2010 (IRIN) - More than a month has passed since the Afghan government suspended the work of two international NGOs on charges of Christian "proselytizing", but formal investigations have been shrouded in secrecy and seem to have become mired in bureaucracy.

"We have sent letters to the Attorney General's Office [AGO], the Ministry of Interior [MoI] and the National Directorate of Security [NDS] calling on them to complete their investigations as soon as possible," Sediq Amarkhil, spokesman of the Ministry of Economy (MoE) which registers and supervises NGOs in the country, told IRIN. He said solving the case was taking longer than normal.

Officials in the AGO and MoI told IRIN the case had not been referred to them but was being handled by the 17th department of the NDS.

An NDS official who preferred anonymity said the directorate was looking into 14 cases of "proselytizing", two of which involved foreign NGOs.

The NGOs, Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) and Church World Service, were accused of "proselytizing" after a local TV channel showed pictures of several Afghans converting to Christianity.

The case quickly turned into a sensitive domestic issue with demonstrations across the country, and ministers summoned to an emotional National Assembly. Afghan law prohibits religious proselytizing.

It is unclear why the two NGOs are embroiled in the controversy as the TV video does not explicitly indicate their involvement in what appears to be a group baptizing ceremony.

"We are eagerly awaiting the results [of the investigations]," Atle Sommerfeldt, secretary-general of NCA, told IRIN, adding that he firmly believed the accusations against his organization were false.

Laurent Sailard, director of ACBAR, a consortium of over 100 national and international NGOs, expressed disappointment with what he called a "stagnant bureaucracy" which he said was hindering the work of NGOs.

Afghanistan's state services have been widely criticized as corrupt, complex and slow. There is a backlog of thousands of cases awaiting adjudication at the Supreme Court, officials acknowledge.

Lobbying

NCA, which has operated in Afghanistan since 1995, has an annual budget of about US$10 million - mostly for rural development and clean energy projects - and implements projects in partnership with local NGOs.

Several NCA beneficiaries from the eastern province of Nangarhar have lobbied the MoE to allow the NGO to resume its activities.

"People have defended the NGOs and say they're innocent," said MoE's spokesman, Amarkhil.

NCA has about 50 national staff in Afghanistan who have been instructed to stay at home until the case is solved. The organization's three international employees have remained in the country.

"So far there has been no dramatic impact on our beneficiaries," said Sommerfeldt.

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Topics: Christian, Freedom of religion,