Editorial: End of Mercy (Corps)?

An internationally reputed USA-based non-governmental aid organization, Mercy Corps,  (MC) has surprisingly decided to shut down all its offices in Balochistan and Sindh provinces. The staggering decision means at least forty offices of the aid organization located in various parts of  Balochistan will stop operating from now on.

The drastic decision had to be taken after the killing of one of its drivers, Habibullah, who had been kidnapped in February along with three other staff members of the organization. They were abducted by unidentified armed men in Qila Saifullah when they were returning to Quetta from Zhob district.

The kidnappers had been communicating with the top administration of the aid organization and the family members of kidnapped relief workers. They clearly demanded a hefty amount as ransom in return of the release of the four men to indicate the criminal nature of their organization. When the demands of the kidnappers were not met even after the lapse of four months, they finally killed one of the four hostages. Habibullah, a resident of Bostan in the outskirts of Quetta, was working as a driver with the international relief organization. His family members have also confirmed his murder by informing the media that they had seen a video released by the kidnappers to the Mercy Corp. The video reportedly showed Habibullah being taken to a mountainous area by his kidnappers and subsequently beheaded.

The news of Habibullah’s brutal murder is very shocking. This event has multiple dimensions such as the barbaric attitude of the kidnappers, failure of the government law enforcement agencies to trace and resurface kidnapped people and the stark disregard by the provincial and the federal governments towards their own citizens. More importantly, the decision of Mercy Corp to shut down its offices in Balochistan is a great setback for the whole province which has already lost its credibility as a friendly destination for foreign NGOs, donors and investors.

For the development sector and non-governmental organizations, the killing of Habibullah is the most shocking news since the kidnapping of John Solecki, the head of the United Nations High Commission Quetta sub-office, in February 2009. While Solecki, an American national, was lucky enough to be released two months after his abduction by the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) follwoing exhaustive formal and informal efforts, his driver Hashim, a local citizen of Quetta, was killed in the same incident while driving Solecki to office.

The killing of Mercy Corp driver has understandably put all the national and international NGOs on high-alert in Quetta and elsewhere in Balochistan. They would surely be busy in conducting fresh in-house deliberations about the safety of their staff members and office buildings in the face of potential threats they face. Threats posed to the NGOs do not come solely from the criminal groups like the one that kept hostage the Mercy Corp staff and killed Habibullah, but they are also endangered by nationalist groups. For example, the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF) had last month threatened the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and all other United Nations agencies to immediately leave Balochistan or prepare for possible attacks either on their staff members or the offices. Taking serious notice of the threat issued by BLUF, the ICRC immediately announced to restrict its operations in Balochistan and the foreign staff was, firstly, shifted to a posh and comparatively safer Quetta hotel and then flown to Islamabad.

Habibullah’s tragic killing raises a few important points. Firstly, the government of Balochistan did not take the issue very seriously after four Mercy Corps (MC) staff members were taken hostage at least four months ago apparently for the simple reason that all four of them were local people. Had they belonged to a foreign country, the provincial and federal governments would have moved the whole world to dig out the kidnapped persons.

Secondly, the local and national media also acted very indifferently by not regularly covering and following up the story for the same repulsive reason that the kidnapped men were not foreign nationals.

Thirdly, Mercy Corps should have displayed such a state of urgency (as it has done by announcing to shut down its offices)  back in February when four of its staff members were kidnapped. The organization should have taken the issue very seriously from the very beginning to build pressure on the government and the kidnappers to ensure the safe release of the relief workers.

The apathy shown the government, the media and the parent organization is deeply regrettable. Yet, what needs to be given top most priority right now is the safe recovery of the three other workers whose lives are equally in danger in the custody of the adductors. The MC has categorically stated that it will not pay any ransom to the kidnappers. One wonders if payment of ransom is out of question then what alternative options the NGO and the government have to secure the safe release of the jeopardized three persons.

The government of Balochistan has to grapple with the issue of growing insecurity faced by foreign NGOs. It should provide protection to all these organizations. After all, they have come to Balochistan to assist the suffering humanity in the country’s poorest province. They need to be complimented for their courage to work in the province at a time when target killings, bomb blasts, rocket attacks, sectarian violence, shutter down strikes, wheel jam protests are the order of the day. These organizations can easily stay away from the province simply by making security as one major excuse. In spite of the hardships, these NGOs have braved to come to Balochistan. Now, it is entirely the responsibility of the government in Quetta to provide foolproof security to the organizations working for the welfare of the ailing communities in Balochistan.