2010 Annual Report

2010 Grantee Spotlight

Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation

Since 2005, NED has supported the work of the Abbottabad-based Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting peace, ensuring accountability, and strengthening the rule of law in Pakistan. Through its network of civil society activists, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, the Foundation works to increase accountability in public sectors such as education, health, economic development, and post-conflict rehabilitation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation brings together civil society activists, lawyers, doctors and other professionals to promote accountability in the public sector.

Over the past decade, the work of the Foundation has become increasingly important as Pakistan grapples with a daunting list of challenges, including the rise of militancy and extremism. The Foundation was instrumental in establishing Aman Ittehad (United for Peace), a national-level citizen’s platform that advocates peace and democracy. Other NED grantees — including Khwendo Kor, the Center for Peace and Civil Society, and the Interactive Resource Center — have also participated and played key roles in Aman Ittehad, helping to extend its reach throughout the country.

In 2010, Aman Ittehad organized a nation-wide “Solidarity Day” with nearly 90 rallies in cities and villages around the country. These rallies promoted messages of peace, tolerance, and the rule of law as critical counterweights to the growth of extremism and militancy that has taken root in the country. Through Aman Ittehad, a new leadership is emerging in Pakistan that demands stronger democratic institutions, fair accountability, equal opportunities, and justice for all citizens.

In addition, the Foundation played an important role in advocating a stronger legal and constitutional framework in Pakistan. In an unprecedented political achievement, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted in favor of the 18th Amendment, which both repealed undemocratic amendments introduced by past military dictators Zia ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf, and conferred two new fundamental rights: the right to education and to information.

The Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation also played a key role in mitigating an outbreak of violence in reaction to the Northwest Frontier Province being renamed Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in April 2010. Public discontent in predominantly non-Pakhtun Hazara Division, where the Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation works, led to violent protests and many deaths. The Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation helped redirect the political agenda away from greater violence and polarization, and encouraged the use of peaceful and constitutional means to express grievances and gain recognition of rights and access to good governance and resources.