QUETTA: International relief agencies –United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Unicef, World Health Organisation and the World Food Programme – have suspended all activities in Balochistan after threats issued by the outlawed Baloch Liberation United Front against their staff.

Sources said that these organisations had shut their offices and their foreign staff, who would soon be shifted to Islamabad for better security, had been advised to stay indoors. The voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, resumed by the UNHCR in April this year, has been suspended.

UN organisations had earlier suspended their operations in Balochistan after the kidnapping of UNHCR Quetta chief John Solecki in February this year.

The provincial government has increased security around offices of UN organisations.

‘We are providing maximum security to officials of UN-affiliated organisations in Quetta,’ a senior police officer said.

On Sunday, the Baloch Liberation United Front had warned of attacking UN officials and said that despite assurances the UN had done nothing for resolving issues like the recovery of missing people.