The UN said that all staff had been withdrawn from Bagh district and aid operations had been suspended for two weeks because of security concerns.
ISLAMABAD: The United Nations announced on Wednesday it has suspended aid work in a quake-affected district in Pakistani Kashmir after a house of two staff members was torched by suspected Islamists.
The UN said that all staff had been withdrawn from Bagh district and aid operations had been suspended for two weeks because of security concerns.
"In view of the current security situation and the prevailing tensions, the United Nations has decided to suspend its operations and close UN offices with immediate effect," the UN said.
A UN spokeswoman said the situation in Bagh had become "life threatening" after unidentified people in Bagh district burnt the house on Monday.
The attack, in which no one was injured, came after local people and clerics asked aid agencies not to employee female staff in the area, which was badly hit by the massive earthquake in October 2005.
The UN spokeswoman said there were "some elements" who had turned against the aid agencies in the deeply conservative area for employing female staff.
Some local men were unhappy that they were not getting their share of employment, she added.
The UN said that during the suspension its emergency services would continue to provide relief to survivors of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake which killed more than 73,000 people and left over three million homeless.
A security official working with an international charity in the region said an organisation called the Joint Action Committee had threatened on Friday to attack NGO offices and beat female staff, if women workers were not fired.
"It's not only the UN but all local and international organisations have suspended their operations following Monday's incident," he said.
Islamic clerics in Bagh had told aid agencies last year to fire local women employees or face violent protests. The religious leaders had said that locals were angered by "obscene" activities at NGOs offices.
Aid groups say female workers are vital to ensure that religious and social conventions are respected when dealing with women in the devastated region, especially for health matters.
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