Pakistan - Strange signals - ''Medecins Sans Frontieres''

After 14 years of working in the war-torn Kurram district, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, has been asked by the government to pack up and leave. The move is part of a larger clampdown on the operations of local and international NGOs across the country. The decision to refuse access to MSF is inexplicable – especially given the timing. Terrorism inside the Kurram district has been on the rise, the resettlement of IDPs is still ongoing while the government is also planning to repatriate Afghan refugees, which means that the need for medical assistance near the Afghan border is high.

 Local medical facilities have not recovered from almost a decade and a half of war and terrorism. The assistance of international health charities with experience of working in conflict zones is essential. We are no longer in the days when the US raid on Osama bin Laden’s lair in Abbottabad in 2011 was reported to have been assisted by an international NGO. That affair has continued to have an impact on health workers, especially on polio workers who remain targets of terrorist attacks.

The recent actions against INGOs have sent rather confusing signals about where the counterterrorism priorities are being placed. It is increasingly hard to decipher how the government and security apparatus are interpreting their interests. Basic requirements and demands that all INGOs register, declare their work and be monitored might be fine; but a number of NGOs have had to face orders to shut shop. Many have been restricted from working in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and – surprisingly – southern Punjab. Given that no staff belonging to an international NGO has been charged with anything related to terrorism, there are few clues available to explain why access is being restricted so tightly. These decisions also raise questions internationally about Pakistan’s priorities – especially at a time when it is facing greater scrutiny over its handling of terrorists such as the Haqqani Network.

There needs to be a formal explanation for the pack up orders for MSF; and it is likely that the government will be asked to explain the decision by international powers. Forcing out NGOs with such credible reputations is a bad strategy; the government would do well to revisit it.