ISLAMABAD – Owing to serious security concerns, the World Food Programme (WFP) and other UN bodies may reduce their staff in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Tribal Areas in the wake of deadly suicide bombing in Bajaur agency on Thursday.
The WFP closed down its food distribution programme in Bajaur Agency after the suicide attack that killed over 40 people and it will soon go for a security review as far as its other operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other Tribal Areas are concerned. “Same is the case with the other UN bodies,” a source in the United Nations said.
He said the closure of programmes in other Tribal Areas and adjoining settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa KP was not under consideration as of now but owing to security threats, the number of people working their could be reduced. WFP spokesman Amjad Jamal said his organisation would review its strategy for food distribution operations in FATA owing to the security threats.
“We cannot ignore our primary task of humanitarian aid but simultaneously we have to take the security of our staff also into account and for that purpose we are going to review the strategy for our operations in the volatile tribal regions,” Jamal said.
Asked if the review pertained to WFP operations only or were other programmes being run by the UN in the area would also come under it, the spokesman said he could speak only about the projects being run jointly by the WFP and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), adding that they would definitely be coming under the review. He, however, said most of the UN programmes in FATA were likely to be reviewed soon.
Asked if there was any likelihood of WFP or the UN operations would be closed in FATA permanently, Jamal said, “We are primarily humanitarian aid workers and cannot ignore the primary purpose of our organisations, so there is no chance of permanent or complete closures. But we have to review our strategy as to how we can operate in the area without putting the lives of our staff members in danger.”
Questioned if there were any new threats to the WFP in Bajaur region, he said, “The WFP food distribution point was not the target of the suicide bomber and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has claimed responsibility for the attack, itself has conceded in a statement that their target was the Salarzai tribe whose people had gathered at the place of the attack near the WFP office”.
“Nonetheless, given the volatile security situation and threats from the TTP to various tribes, continuing operations in the tribal belt amount to putting the lives of staff members in danger,” Jamal said.
