After the murder of two of its employees in Mastung on Thursday, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has closed its offices in five districts of Balochistan suspending all food distribution and agricultural support programmes.
Two UN workers identified as Habibullah and Mohammad Zahid were shot dead by unknown assailants when they were travelling from Quetta to Mastung on Thursday morning.
The Organisation is currently functioning in five districts of Balochistan include Qila Abdullah, Zhob, Loralai, Quetta and Mastung. All the districts are in the immediate vicinity of the Provincial Capital. “The offices are closed for two days in honour of to our slain workers. We will review the security situation on Monday and will decide to reopen the offices or not,” project manager David Doolan told The Express Tribune.
Answering a query about the security situation in Balochistan, Doolan said that the UN Agency is facing difficulties in Balochistan due to the lack of security and it is unfortunate that those who are working for the strengthening the community were being targeted.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation is working on agriculture, livestock and helping small farmers, mainly on enhancing food security in Balochistan.
The FAO officials are not the first international NGO’s to be targeted in Balochistan. Members of the International Red Cross, UNHCR, Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP) and other organisations have been kidnapped from Quetta and other parts of the province over the past couple of years.
Most of the prestigious organisations working in interior Balochistan have already stopped their operations owing to security threats.
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It is RAW, Mosaad,CIA conspiracy. Poor ISI is helpless. Come on Pak troll. Start crying loud now.
This would appear to another issue of PAK honor and sovereignty over a part of the territory it claims to be PAK. One wonders who PAK will whine and protest to now or will they actually attempt to fully control this territory. Then it is quite possible PAK does not wish to have UN organizations operating within their nation