London, Sept. 7 (ANI): International aid group 'Save the Children' has denied that it had any links to the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama Bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad in May last year, and said that rumours of an association may have contributed to its international staff being denied visas.
Earlier on Thursday, six foreign workers of the organization were asked to leave Pakistan, after authorities confirmed to have found concrete evidence of them supporting Dr Shakil Afridi, who was used by the CIA in the hunt for the Al-Qaeda chief.
Save the Children confirmed that its international staff had been given two months to leave the country, but said that the authorities in Islamabad had offered no reason for the sudden expulsion.
Many international aid groups in Pakistan are working in an atmosphere of deep suspicion, with their work and movement severely restricted following the emergence of the news last year about Dr Afridi, reports The Independent.
Dr Afridi was arrested by Pakistani authorities after he was found 'guilty' of helping the CIA to eliminate Osama by running a fake vaccination programme. He helped in confirming Osama's identity, after which U.S. Navy Seals launched a raid on his compound.
Justin Forsyth, the charity's chief executive, said: "This affects six international workers out of 2,000 staff. It is quite a difficult situation. There is some suspicion of international organisations at the moment. It is not that our programme has been shut down but that some of our international workers are having difficulties renewing visas".
"There have been allegations in the Pakistani media that Dr Afridi was somehow linked to Save the Children. It is absolutely untrue. He has never worked for us, we have never paid him, we have never run a vaccination programme in Abbottabad," he added.
"We never rule out being infiltrated but we have absolutely no evidence that this has happened. We are concerned because millions of children in Pakistan rely on Save the Children. We are concerned they don't miss out," he further said.
All humanitarian workers are being viewed as potential spies by Pakistani officialdom, while violent extremists have targeted foreign and local staff of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with a spate of killings and kidnappings that appear linked to the revelations on Dr Afridi, the paper said. (ANI)
|
|
Comments:
