Pakistan floods: Pakistani Taliban threats don't deter foreign aid workers

[Turborama]

Source: Christian Science Monitor News Service

By Issam Ahmed | Published Fri, Aug 27 2010 9:43 am -

LAHORE, Pakistan — International aid organizations here appear unfazed by the Pakistani Taliban’s declaration that their presence in the flood-hit country is “unacceptable.”

“It’s not affecting our activities - we’re continuing our operations normally and in fact we're increasing our response to the flood disaster,” says James Nichols, a spokesman for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is providing medical care, clean water, and hygiene kits throughout Pakistan.

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For the aid organizations, meanwhile, it appears to be business as usual in what is at the best of times a “high-security context,” according to Mr. Nichols. He believes that the MSF’s independence and impartiality will afford the organization's staff - of whom some 110 are foreign and 1,200 are Pakistani - a degree of protection.

Lars Oberhaus, the Punjab head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, says: “For us in general, we at the ICRC, we pursue a strictly independent and humanitarian approach. We ourselves are not too worried.” But, he adds, “There is always the risk of confusion, when there is a blurring of military and humanitarian action,” he says, citing the aid that must be distributed by military helicopters in hard-to-access areas.

Aid workers will continue their efforts in the face of threats, UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said, adding that any attack on humanitarians at this time is an attack on the people of Pakistan.

Read more: http://www.minnpost.com/worldcsm/2010/08/27/20954/pakistan_floods_pakistani_taliban_threats_dont_deter_foreign_aid_workers

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R fot the brave foreign aid workers...

Awesome! :kick:

[Turborama]

2. They are true heroes!

Thanks for the K&R :hi:

[sabrina 1]

3. They really are heroes. It would be a very bad mistake

for anyone to attack them. I really admire those people.

[nyy1998]

4. That courage is how we'll win this "war on terror"