Red Mosque attack forces NGO to freeze project
Swiss non-governmental organisation Terre des Hommes has been forced to put one of its Pakistani projects on hold in the aftermath of the Red Mosque clashes.
Western NGOs left the northwestern city of Battagram after two of their compounds were torched by angry locals, and have not yet decided if and when they should return.
Pakistani troops launched an assault on the mosque in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday.
Commandos went in after failing to force Islamic militants to surrender in a weeklong siege following deadly street clashes with armed supporters of the mosque.
The extremists are alleged to have used the mosque as a base to send out radicalised students to enforce their version of Islamic morality, including abducting alleged prostitutes and trying to “re-educate” them at the compound.
More than 70 militants were killed in the attack, as well as ten soldiers.
Compounds attacked
The assault led to protests in different parts of Pakistan, including in Battagram in the North West Frontier Province. NGOs decided to leave this city after armed groups went on the rampage and the situation began to get critical.
“Two compounds near ours were attacked and burnt down, and there was gunfire as well,” said David Kälin of Terre des Hommes. “We decided to get out based on our own evaluation and information from local staff.”
Terre des Hommes projects in the area include helping children affected by the 2005 earthquake, setting up mobile bakeries and rebuilding sewage and water infrastructure.
All work in the Battagram zone is now on hold until further notice.
Lack of protection
According to Kälin, the local security forces failed to protect the NGOs from the mobs angered by the mosque assault.
“The NGOs that were attacked made repeated calls to the police and the army for help and neither responded,” he told swissinfo. “They turned up after everything was over.”
Kälin, speaking from Mansehra, pointed out that there is a general lack of protection in Battagram despite regular tensions in the northern regions of Pakistan.
“These are provinces that are very conservative and in the hands of Islamist parties,” he said. “There have been protests against NGOs over questions such as women working in the field.”
“We stopped using female employees in Battagram for example because it created too much trouble.”
No decision has been reached as to whether to return to the city. “The question remains open and most NGOs will be asking themselves the same thing,” added Kälin.
swissinfo, Scott Capper
Since its creation in 1960 by Edmond Kaiser, the mission of Terre des Hommes has been to come to the aid of children.
It defends the rights of children in wartime, after natural catastrophes as well as in other situations.
Over the last 40 years, Terre des Hommes has specialised in three areas: health, social care, and the rights of the child.
An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck South Asia on October 8, 2005, devastating large areas of northern Pakistan and parts of India.
The hardest hit areas were Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the districts of Mansehra, Battagram, Abbottabad, Shangla and Kohistan in North West Frontier Province in Pakistan.
The earthquake killed over 73,000 people and left 128,000 injured. Over three million people in the affected areas were displaced.
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