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Pakistan closes Save the Children - without warning - and orders all staff to leave the country Pakistan orders Save the Children to leave the country after locking down its offices
(35 minutes later)
Pakistan has closed the offices of Save the Children in the capital, Islamabad, and ordered all staff to leave the country, officials say. Pakistan has closed the offices of the international charity and aid group, Save the Children.
Employees were asked to head for the exit as a lock was placed on the gate of the international aid agency’s gate. The charity said it “strongly objected” to the measure. According to officials, no reason has been given for the closure of the offices, which are located in Islamabad.
Intelligence officials in the country have previously accused Save the Children of being involved with the CIA and a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, in the capture operation which killed Osama Bin Laden in 2011. Locks were placed on the gates of the group’s offices by Pakistani officials on Thursday, while employees were given 15 days to leave the country, the BBC reported.
The charity has always denied being involved with the CIA and also said it was not involved with Dr Afridi’s fake vaccination programme – used by the CIA – to track down Bin Laden. In an announcement today, government officials said that the action was taken after orders from the Ministry of Interior.
Although Pakistan and the U.S. have seemingly been co-operative with each other in the international fight against militancy, the Pakistani authorities viewed Dr Afridi’s actions as treason and jailed him in 2012 for providing “very helpful” information. The NGO has previously been linked by Pakistan to the fake vaccination programme that the CIA used to track down Osama Bin Laden.
The government did not make any formal announcement but an official from the interior ministry said staff members had been involved in “anti-Pakistan activities.” Pakistani intelligence agencies claimed that a doctor’s vaccinations programme in the city of Abbottabad was used as a cover for the CIA to obtain DNA samples at a compound where the Al-Qaida leader was hiding out.
Save the Children, which has operated in Pakistan for more than 30 years, said it is “raising our serious concerns at the highest levels” and added: “All our work is designed and delivered in close collaboration with the government ministries across the country and aims to strengthen public service delivery systems in health, nutrition, education and child welfare.” Condemning the move, Save the Children said the government actions were “raising our serious concerns at the highest levels,” adding that the affected workers were all Pakistani nationals.
The move to close comes after the Pakistani government announced it was tightening the rules for non-governmental organisations with the aim to revoke several of their licences. A spokesperson for Save the Children told The Independent: "The office has been closed and sealed off today by the Pakistani authorities.
"Save the Children was not served any notice to this effect. We strongly object to this action and are raising our serious concerns at the highest levels.
"Last year, our programs in health, education, food security and livelihoods reached more than 4 million children and their families."
Save the Children told The Independent in 2012: "The use by the CIA of a vaccination campaign to get information is abhorrent to us"