October 14, 2001	Sunday	Rajab 26, 1422

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GILGIT, Oct 13: Over two dozens of non-governmental organizations working in the Northern Areas have put their operations on hold in the wake of emerging threat to foreign-funded NGOs.

Sources told Dawn that NGOs had to limit their activities in the hilly and border areas, particularly in Chitral, Diamer, and Ghizer, following the US attacks on Afghanistan because those areas except Diamer were bordering Afghanistan.

Foreign tourists left the region immediately after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon over a month ago that led to a complete closure of tourist activities in the Northern Areas incurring losses of billions of rupees.

Foreign tourists also expedited their departures from the region when its administration quarantined them in sensitive areas.

The sources said the foreign heads of some NGOs had also left the areas following the US ultimatum to its citizens for early exit from Pakistan. Following the departure of foreign employees of NGOs, the pace of work on various projects had been affected, they added.

Some eye patients in Gilgit told this correspondent that they had been deprived of the operation’s facility due to the closure of the Gilgit Eye Hospital that was being run by US-based eye specialists.

In the Northern Areas, NGOs are undertaking various projects, including education, health, water and sanitation, rural development, agriculture, social forestry, animal husbandry, micro-credit schemes, agriculture, conservation and wildlife.

An NGO official said they were convinced to limit their activities following the attacks on NGO offices in Quetta and Peshawar and also because of the warnings from some religious groups in Gilgit to close down foreign-funded NGOs.

PRISONERS’ PLIGHT: Prisoners in the Gahkuch sub-jail are exposed to health hazards because of serious overcrowding in the prison.

Even a room, which has been turned into a lockup due to the overcrowding in the Ghizer district prison, has become overcrowded.

The sources in the Gahkuch prison told Dawn that currently there was a 10x12 room without any electricity and toilet at the prison and there were at least 15 inmates lodged in it.

Substandard food coupled with unhygienic conditions in the cell has badly affected the health of the inmates.