The United Nations has announced its intention to recall 60 staff members of the organization that constitute its international staff in Pakistan amid growing security concerns in the country. The withdrawal of the U.N workers will be in effect for six months and will not be applicable to the 2,700 Pakistani nationals, currently serving under United Nations banner and the foreign nationals’ relocation decision has been slated for a review in three months.

For the most of the last year, Pakistan had been reeling under a massive terror campaign initiated by dreaded terror outfits such as Pakistan Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters, during which scores of people including military personnel and government officials have lost their lives. The current volatile security situation in Pakistan has prompted the U.N to initiate this withdrawal.

The militant factions have infact intensified their guerrilla warfare in major cities of Pakistan ever since the country’s military began a massive offensive in the Northwestern region of the country in an effort to uproot the terrorists. Along with the military campaign, the U.S drone attacks that has been inflicting heavy casualties on the militant factions almost every day, has stirred the hornet’s nest and thus the terror strikes in Pakistan. In a similar security situation in Afghanistan, the United Nations had ordered a withdrawal of 600 personnel, after the Taliban lay siege to a guest house in Kabul, that accommodated the U.N staff members.

Via New York Times.