Pakistan takes U-turn on Save the children

Pakistan yesterday  suspended moves to close the national branch of the charity Save the Children.

The move by the interior ministry comes days after the charity's main office in the capital Islamabad was shut down by police. No formal reason was given for the action and there has been no official comment on the reversal.

Officials have previously accused the charity of involvement in "anti-state activities". The US State Department expressed concern over the closure.

Pakistan had linked the charity to a fake vaccination programme used by the CIA to track down Osama Bin Laden.

Save the Children has always denied being involved with the CIA or Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, who carried out the programme.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has imposed a one-month moratorium on executions during Ramadan, officials said yesterday.

The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says the country has hanged over 150 convicts since restarting executions in December following a Taliban school massacre -- more than Saudi Arabia over the same period.

A moratorium on the death penalty had been in force since 2008, and its end angered rights activists and alarmed some foreign countries.

Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, many of whom have exhausted all avenues of appeal.