A parliamentary standing committee yesterday asked the social welfare ministry to probe allegations of patronising different militant groups against a section of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) during the rule of BNP-led alliance government.
It also asked the ministry to investigate the alleged irregularities in allocating money to different NGOs by the former social welfare minister and incumbent Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid.
Besides, the committee asked the Public Service Commission (PSC) to investigate the recruitment process of about 1,100 officials and employees in various departments under the social welfare ministry under the stewardship of Mojahid during the four-party alliance rule.
"We have asked the secretary of social welfare ministry to submit a detailed report on which NGOs got how much money during the tenure of past BNP government," Mozammel Hossain, chairman of the standing committee, told The Daily Star after the meeting at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban.
The House committee chairman said several ministers of the past government patronised some militant groups through different NGOs and "we want to probe the matter".
Mozammel also said the committee has asked the authority concerned to probe how much money was distributed by Mojahid.
The committee also asked the ministry to make a tally of all NGOs across the country and what they are doing. It also asked to make a tally of the registered NGOs in a bid to make easy the task of overseeing those.
"After getting statistics of all NGOs--how they spent the money they got during the four-party alliance government, we will try to identify if they were involved in patronising militancy," said the committee chief.
"We have asked the PSC to verify whether 1,100 officials including 228 first class officers at different departments under the social welfare ministry were recruited as per the government rules and regulations," Mozammel said.
Social Welfare Minister Enamul Haque, committee members Monirul Islam, AKM Bahauddin, Abdul Mazid Khan, Jasim Uddin, Abdul Momin Talukder, Syeda Zebunnesa Haque, Chemon Ara, Mahjabin Morshed, among others, were present at the meeting.