Islamabad, Pakistan, Oct 8, 2018 / 10:09 am
Catholic Relief Services is among the 18 international organizations ordered closed by Pakistan's new government without explanation. The move follows allegations related to the U.S. government's pursuit of Osama bin Laden, in which a doctor's false vaccination campaign claimed to be linked to the NGO Save the Children.
Most of the groups under the order are U.S.-based, with the rest from the U.K. and the European Union, the Associated Press reported Oct. 5.
World Vision and International Relief and Development are among the other U.S. groups affected, while the U.K.-based ActionAid and the Denmark-based Danish Relief Council are also under orders to close, the Associated Press reports. According to the Pakistani newspaper The Nation, the Pakistani branch of George Soros' Open Society Foundations is among the organizations.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry issued the order. The organizations have 60 days to end operations in Pakistan.