Pakistan locks Save the Children offices

Pakistani authorities have sealed off the offices of the international aid group Save the Children, saying the charity was "working against the country,” police and government officials said.

Pakistan has toughened its stance against local and international nongovernmental organizations in recent years, accusing them of using their work as a cover for espionage. In the country’s remotest regions, the Taliban have attacked aid workers trying to immunize children. 

"International NGOs were working without any rules, regulations, agenda and law in Pakistan. For several years intelligence reports were being received but no action was taken," said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. 

Save the Children has been in Pakistan for more than 35 years and has had run-ins with the government since 2011, when it was linked to a Pakistani doctor recruited by the CIA to help in the hunt that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, a city north of the capital, Islamabad.

Save the Children's foreign staff were expelled from Pakistan soon after the accusations surfaced, but more than 1,000 local staff continued to operate. The charity denies any links with the doctor or the CIA.

On Thursday, government officials accompanied by police arrived at the charity's office in the heart of Islamabad after office hours and placed a lock on the compound gate.

A representative for Save the Children confirmed in a statement that its office had been sealed off without warning.

"Save the Children was not served any notice to this effect. We strongly object to this action and are raising our serious concerns at the highest levels. Save the Children has worked in Pakistan for more than 35 years and we currently have 1,200 [Pakistani] staff members working across the nation,” the representative said. "All our work is designed and delivered in close collaboration with the government ministries across the country, and aims to strengthen public service delivery systems in health, nutrition, education and child welfare."

A draft bill, the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act 2015, would make it easier for officials to prevent groups that receive foreign funds from operating in Pakistan.

Pakistan deregistered 3,000 local aid groups in December last year, according to CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations.

Nisar said charities doing "positive" work should not worry but criticized activists working for the abolition of the death penalty and judicial reform.

"We know which local NGOs are involved in this slander campaign," he said. "This propaganda should stop. There should be respect for our judicial system."

Al Jazeera and wire services