Human Rights Watch, Pakistan Ousts 18 Aid Agencies

 Pakistan has expelled 18 international aid groups from the country, after they were accused of deliberately spreading disinformation, according to a series of tweets issued by the country’s human rights minister, Shireen Mazari.

Ariana News Agency- The expulsions reflect what aid workers say is a hardening toward organizations that provide health care, education and food assistance as well as working on human rights, women’s rights and free speech issues.

Among the groups were charities such as Catholic Relief, Plan International and World Vision.

This announcement comes alongside lingering suspicions about the work and intentions of international aid groups, said Michael Kugelman, senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

“The state simply doesn’t trust these NGOs, as innocuous as their activities may be. There is a sky-high level of mistrust, especially in a country where conspiracy theories are tightly embraced by large swaths of society and the state alike,” Kugelman wrote in an email response to written questions.

Those long-entrenched suspicions intensified after the CIA used a Pakistani doctor to help find Osama Bin Laden in 2011. He posed as a worker for an international aid group administrating vaccinations. The doctor, Shakil Afridi, was arrested and is being held in a Pakistani jail.

The expulsions follow a new registration process for aid groups that began in 2015. That led to the government ordering 20 groups to shut down last December. Aid workers said at the time they would appeal the order. Some of 18 recently expelled were those that lost their appeals, including World Vision.