UN moving a fourth of its foreign staff out of Pakistan
The United Nations has decided to move a quarter of its international staff (60 employees) out of Pakistan over fears of security concerns for at least six months.
The decision, which does not apply to the organisation's 2,700 Pakistani employees, will be re-evaluated in three months, according to an UN official. Improvements in the country's security could shorten the relocation.
The move is the latest sign of foreigners' fears raised by intensified terrorist attacks in recent months throughout the country, including in better-guarded interior areas like the garrison city of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, The News York Times reported.
Militants based in northwestern Pakistan have escalated their attacks in retaliation for a Pakistani military offensive in the South Waziristan tribal area that began this fall.
Two months ago, the United Nations said it was withdrawing international workers from northwestern Pakistan.
The presence of Western organisations in Islamabad has already declined significantly, and most diplomats and aid workers no longer venture out freely even in the tightly controlled capital.
The decision follows a very difficult year in Pakistan for the United Nations.
The move applied to UN international staff working on long-term development programmes but did not affect humanitarian workers. UN officials were unable to specify the numbers of personnel involved.
And in October, WFP temporarily closed distribution centres serving more than two million people in the northwest because of security fears.
The closure, affecting the Swat region where Pakistan waged a blistering assault against Taliban fighters earlier this year, followed a suicide bombing of the WFP compound in Islamabad that killed five aid workers.
Taliban and al-Qaeda-linked extremists have carried out a two-year campaign of attacks in Pakistan that has killed more than 2,000 people.
Haq said the United Nations had conducted a review to determine how it could operate more effectively and safely in responding to the most urgent needs of Pakistan and its people.
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