Pakistani devastating Flood
The news of the killing of the three foreign Christian aid workers by the Pakistani Taliban was received with sadness as the country has continuously. The victims were part of the team providing aid to victims of the massive flooding in Pakistan.
According to Compass Direct News (CDN), the authorities recovered the bodies of the three Christian relief workers who had been kidnapped and killed by members of the Taliban in the flood-ravaged country.
Speaking on this ugly incident, the Swat District Coordination Officer, Atif-ur-Rehman said that an official at the international humanitarian organization that employed the workers withheld their names and requested that the agency remain unnamed for security reasons.
He observed that the foreign aid workers have been working in Mingora and the surrounding areas adding that the victims were returning to their base at around 5:35 p.m. on the faithful day, when a group of Taliban attacked their vehicle. They injured around five-six people and kidnapped three foreign humanitarian workers.
“The Military sources who withheld news of the deaths from electronic and print media to avoid panicking other relief workers granted permission to Compass to publish it in limited form,” he added.
According to Rehman, Pakistan has been hit by its worst flooding in decades, with the United Nations now estimating more than 21.8 million people have been affected.
“Foreign aid workers are involved in relief activities across the country, including Swat district in Khyber-Paktunkhwa Province in northern Pakistan. At least 8 million people require emergency relief, with hundreds of thousands reportedly isolated from aid supplies,” he also said.
He stated: “An army Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) source said rangers have been deployed in Swat and other potential target areas to help provide security for relief workers. The Taliban had warned about attacks on foreigner aid workers and Christian organizations.”
Also speaking, the president of an advocacy organization, Life for All, Rizwan Paul, said that the bodies of the three relief workers had been sent to Islamabad under the supervision of the Pakistan Army.
“We strongly condemn the killing of the three humanitarian workers. These aid workers came to support us, and we are thankful to the humanitarian organizations that came to help us in a time of need,” he said.
Pointing to alleged discrimination against minorities in distribution of humanitarian aid, Paul added that Christians in severely flood-damaged areas in Punjab Province have been neglected adding that the majority of the effected Christians in Punjab are in Narowal, Shakargarh, Muzzafargarh, Rahim Yar Khan and Layyah.
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