Pakistan Orders International Charity Group To Leave

99c1c840fc89402f962094cf359575ff_18

Pakistani authorities have sealed off the offices of the international aid group Save the Children, saying the charity was “working against the country”, police and government officials say. Aljazeera reports:

Government officials accompanied by police arrived at the charity’s office in the heart of the capital Islamabad on Thursday after working hours and placed a lock on the compound gate. “We have sealed the office of Save the Children on government instructions,” Kamran Cheema, a senior government official, told the AFP news agency.

“We don’t know the reasons behind this order. We were sent a three-line notification by the interior ministry saying that this office should be sealed and all the expatriate staff be sent back to their countries within 15 days.”

The government did not make any formal announcement but an official from the interior ministry told AFP that the agency was involved in “anti-Pakistan activities”. “Their activities were being monitored since a long time. They were doing something which was against Pakistan’s interest,” said the official without giving his name because he was not authorised to speak to the media.