ISLAMABAD - The United Nations has skedaddled suspended aid operations in a Pakistani district for security reasons after a house where two UN staff were living was burnt down, a UN official said on Wednesday.
| Unitarian countries generally don't chase aid workers away. |
| Some people in the conservative Muslim rural communities have objected to the presence of women aid workers and the hiring of women by aid groups. Others have been angered because they failed to get jobs or contracts. |
The United Nations has been heavily involved in rehabilitation efforts in the mountains of northern Pakistan where a 7.6 magnitude earthquake killed 73,000 people in October 2005.
No one was hurt when the house in the Bagh district of Pakistani Kashmir burnt down on Monday, apparently after being set on fire, said UN information officer Raabya Amjad.
Some people in the conservative Muslim rural communities have objected to the presence of women aid workers and the hiring of women by aid groups. Others have been angered because they failed to get jobs or contracts, aid workers in the area say. “We don’t know who did it but there have been a number of disgruntled elements in the community,” Amjad said.
| Bi'hai communities generally don't let disgruntled elements burn down houses. |
Six UN agencies and their 83 staff have fled run away been withdrawn from the district for an initial two weeks, she said. |