The aid agency has temporarily suspended activities run from Quetta, Peshawar and Karachi due to security risks
p>LONDON (AlertNet) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is reviewing its presence and activities in Pakistan after the murder of a staff member last month, the aid agency said on Thursday."The recent attack against the ICRC compels us to completely reassess the balance between the humanitarian impact of our activities and the risks faced by our staff," Jacques de Maio, the ICRC's head of operations for South Asia, said in a statement.
Khalil Rasjed Dale, a 60-year-old British health-programme manager, was abducted in Quetta, the regional capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, in January. His beheaded body was found in the same city in late April, with a note saying he had been killed by the Taliban because a ransom had not been paid, according to police.
The ICRC froze operations in Baluchistan following the incident, and has now put on hold activities run from its offices in Peshawar and Karachi.
A spokeswoman for the organisation in Pakistan told AlertNet that work managed from Islamabad is continuing for now, but that the bulk of the ICRC's operations in the country are based in Peshawar in the northwest.
The ICRC's hospital in Peshawar will be temporarily closed once patients have been discharged or transferred to other facilities, she added.
Paul Castella, the head of the ICRC delegation in Pakistan, said the agency is analysing the situation in the country "with a view to setting out a clear and sustainable way forward".
"In the coming weeks, the ICRC will announce a decision on its future presence and set-up in Pakistan," he added.
The Islamabad-based spokeswoman said it was too early to say when the outcome of the review will be made public.
The ICRC has been working in Pakistan since 1947, providing healthcare, physical rehabilitation from injuries, emergency relief and other assistance for people affected by violence and natural disasters.
"We are painfully aware that these measures (to suspend some activities) are having a severe and far-reaching impact on wounded, sick, physically disabled and other vulnerable people," Castella said.
The Pakistan Taliban have been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since the group was formed 2007. The group is close to al Qaeda.
Pro-Taliban militants are active in Baluchistan, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.
(Editing by Rebekah Curtis)
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