The kidnapping of John Solecki of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in Quetta, Balochistan province seems to confirm the perception of international humanitarian organisations that aid work in Pakistan is becoming increasingly hazardous. In a video released on Feb.13, Solecki’s kidnappers, from the shadowy Balochistan Liberation United Front separatist group, threatened to kill him within 72 hours unless 141 Baloch women held by security agencies in Pakistan are released. The deadline has since been extended.

Solecki, a US national, was abducted on Feb 2 while on his way to work by gunmen who fatally shot his driver. The video showed a blindfolded Solecki appealing to the UN to negotiate his release. “I am not feeling well. I am sick and in trouble. Please help solve the problem soon so that I can gain my release,” he said. Solecki’s abduction was the third attack in recent months on foreigners working in Pakistan’s north-west which borders Afghanistan. On Feb 9 Taliban militants released a videotape showing the beheading of kidnapped 42-year-old Polish geologist, Piotr Stanczak that followed the Pakistani government’s refusal to release 30 militants. The abductors are now demanding 200,000 US dollars for the return of his body.

Among the militants whose release is being sought by is Omar Saeed Sheikh, found guilty of conspiring to kill journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Pearl was working for the American Wall Street Journal when he was kidnapped and beheaded in Karachi by militants who then circulated a video of the gruesome act. Last November, gunmen shot dead Stephan Vance, a USAID official, outside his home in Peshawar. In August 2008, US diplomat Lynne Tracy narrowly survived an attack on her vehicle in Peshawar.

While these abductions underscore the overall deteriorating security situation in the country, it also raises concern for the safety and protection of aid workers who have become “soft targets” for militants in getting their demands met as well as raise money to run their operations. “Until recently, most international aid workers did not feel they were the main target, but the perception has been dented by the killing of Stephan Vance and the kidnapping of John Solecki,” said Dorothy Blane, country director in Pakistan

of the non-government organisation (NGO) Concern Worldwide, which has been working in Pakistan for nearly six years.

Pakistan is not the only country where aid work is perilous. Carrying out humanitarian services in Somalia, DR Congo and Sudan’s Darfur region carry similar risks. “In many parts of the world this is the case,” said Maki Shinohara, a UN spokesperson. “Many aid activities are carried out amid tensions in communities, and we are not armed. Even though humanitarian activities are impartial, in some cases, this is not

respected and we may be seen as soft targets,” pointed out Shinohara.

Shinohara believes that while aid workers “are not accepted targets in most cases,” there are places where they are seen as the enemy. “In parts of Afghanistan and Iraq, for

example, aid activities are seen to be part of the efforts to stabilise the country, which they are, and are therefore seen as “enemies” by insurgents and spoilers.” — IPS