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| India-Pakistan |
| Aid group halts Pakistan work after employee slain |
| 2010-06-16 |
| [Dawn] The international aid group Mercy Corps has suspended its operations in Pakistan after kidnappers killed one of its employees, the agency said Tuesday, the latest fallout from attacks on aid groups in the troubled nation. Four Pakistani employees of Mercy Corps were abducted Feb. 18 as they drove to one of their offices in Quetta, the capital of southwest Baluchistan province. The staffers were working on health programs in the restive region. A Mercy Corps press release said the agency recently learned that a 52-year-old driver in the group, identified only as Habibullah, had been slain earlier this month. There was no word on the fate of the other three staffers. ''It is shocking and tragic that someone dedicated to improving the lives of Pakistanis should be the target of such senseless violence,'' Mercy Corps chief executive Neal Keny-Guyer said in the statement. The Portland, Ore.-based agency did not say how long its work will be suspended. Mercy Corps has been working in Pakistan since 1986 on a variety of health, economic development and emergency relief programs. As extremism has risen and the security situation deteriorated in Pakistan, aid groups including those overseen by the United Nations have been attacked and forced to scale back their activities. Militants in particular have accused such organizations of working against Islam, greatly hampering efforts to raise living standards in the desperately poor country. Ordinary crime also has been on the rise, with kidnappings spiking throughout Pakistan. While many kidnappers are attracted by ransom money, some of the profits are believed to reach the coffers of extremist groups. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 ION DAILY TIMES.PK > MILITANCY SPREADS TO PUNJAB - THE COUNTRY'S HEARTLAND. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-06-16 23:56 |