How exactly has a fake vaccination campaign launched by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in its attempt to locate Osama bin Laden in Pakistan affected humanitarian operations and aid work in the country? Several aid groups said they are experiencing difficulties obtaining visas to enter the country. Moreover, it recently emerged that a major non-governmental organization briefly evacuated its international staff out of Pakistan due to security concerns.
Save the Children relocated eight international staff members out of Pakistan in July and moved two senior local employees into hotels in the country’s capital after receiving warnings from the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, the Guardian reports. The news agency says there were concerns at the time over the safety of the NGO’s staff because of its perceived ties with the doctor, Shaki Afridi, who spearheaded the fake vaccination campaign for hepatitis B in Abbottabad.
Save the Children has denied any ties to the fake campaign and stressed that the doctor “never worked” for the agency, despite him having what the Guardian described as a “passing connection” with the aid group. Afridi joined two health-worker training programs of Save the Children in 2010 and 2008, the Guardian says.
Save the Children has since reinstated its eight foreign staff members in Pakistan and allowed the senior local officials to return home after receiving assurances of their safety.
Other aid agencies working in Pakistan, meanwhile, said they have had difficulties in securing visas since the discovery of the fake campaign. There are also reports of regular visits of Pakistani intelligence officials to their offices seeking information about their employees.
“We are consistently facing suspicion of any foreigner working in the country,” Pascal Cuttat, the outgoing director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said, as quoted by the Guardian. “To live and work and get permission to do anything has become more difficult. Everyone is struggling with the bureaucracy.”
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