Red Cross declares most of Pakistan too risky after beheading

THE Red Cross has halted most of its work in Pakistan following the death of Scottish nurse Khalil Rasjed Dale.

A risk assessment will now be carried out before a decision is taken on whether it will resume operations in the country.

The body of Mr Dale, who ran a health programme in the south-western city of Quetta in the Baluchistan province, was found on 29 April, with a note that said the relief agency’s failure to pay ransom was the reason he was killed.

The 60-year-old nurse was abducted by suspected militants on 5 January while on his way home from work.

“The recent attack against the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) compels us to completely reassess the balance between the humanitarian impact of our activities and the risks faced by our staff,” said Jacques de Maio, head of ICRC operations for South Asia.

It has already condemned the murder of Mr Dale, from Dumfries, who had worked in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq for the organisation. The neutral humanitarian agency, which rarely suspends its work even in war zones, was providing mainly health and physical rehabilitation for victims of violence and natural disasters in Pakistan, many of whom have lost limbs.

The suspension in three of the country’s four provinces affects hundreds of thousands of people, spokesman Christian Cardon said in Geneva.

The ICRC suspended its aid work in Baluchistan when Mr Dale’s beheaded body was found.

Its activities in the south-western province had been limited since his kidnapping, with only two staff deployed there.

“The suspension of our activities now extends to the office in Peshawar, our largest in Pakistan, and activities in Karachi,” Mr Cardon said.

“The decision will be taken following a thorough review in consultation with relevant stakeholders, including national authorities at different levels in the country.”

The agency normally deploys about 500 national staff and 50 overseas staff in the three provinces.

“We are painfully aware that these measures are having a severe and far-reaching impact on wounded, sick, physically disabled and other vulnerable people,” said Paul Castella, head of the ICRC delegation in Pakistan.

Mr Dale is the third westerner to be beheaded by militants in Pakistan.

The others include Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, and Piotr Stanczak, a Polish geologist, in 2009.

Police said the Pakistan Taleban claimed responsibility for Mr Dale’s killing.

The Pakistan Taleban have been fighting a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani state since the group was formed 2007.