MINUTES OF NIOC’S 13TH ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
The 13th Advisory Board Meeting of the National Initiative against Organised Crime (NIOC) was held on Friday, 6th of November 2020, at 4 pm. The Board president Tariq Parvez and the following members participated: Zahid Hussain, Jawaid Akhtar and Fasi Zaka. Samina Ahmed and Zubair Habib could not participate as they were in Turkey and Saudi Arabia respectively.
NIOC Directorate was represented by Tariq Khosa (director), Ali Nekokara (deputy director) and Hassan Sardar (manager administration). NIOC secretary Amir Rana could not participate as he was in Turkey.
The meeting was also attended by NIOC consultants Kashif Noon and Ammar Jaffri and legal expert Saroop Ijaz.
Director NIOC apprised the meeting about the award of a project on counter-extremism (CE) legislation by the British High Commission to NIOC/PIPS. Over the next four months or so, a team finalised by NIOC will undertake a study on “Gaps in CE Legislation and Way Forward.” President NIOC AB Tariq Parvez will lead the project.
Director NIOC informed the Board members about the status of the report on “National Strategy against Organized Crime in Pakistan.” He shared that NIOC consultant Kashif Noon will draft executive summary and secretary Amir Rana would get it professionally edited before releasing it to relevant stakeholders for peer review.
Consultant Kashif Noon was further provided with the input to prepare a concept note for holding a webinar on aspects of human smuggling to be jointly held by NIOC with the FIA. Ammar Jaffri, consultant, would be the organizer for this initiative.
An AB member Fasi Zaka put forward a suggestion to organize podcasts based on interviews of selected professionals related with different areas of organized crimes in Pakistan. The Board appreciated and approved the proposal. Director NIOC would work out further modalities of weekly podcasts during Nov-Dec 2020.
Kashif Noon will complete a case study of “Crime-Politics Nexus in Karachi” and submit the final draft towards end of November 2020.
Director NIOC informed about continuing collaboration between NIOC and PIPS. It would be formalised through establishing an MoU between the two organisations.
Director NIOC discussed various pros and cons of registering NIOC with the SECP as a non-profit NGO or for-profit CSO. Further modalities are being considered and AB would be kept informed.
NIOC will start working on a project proposal for funding by GI Resilience Fund for 2021. Director NIOC will work with the concerned directorate staff in developing the proposal that would be put up for AB’s approval in the next meeting to be held on Friday (4th of December 2020).