Two Aid Workers Killed in Pakistan

Published February 05, 2009 @ 01:27PM PT

Depressing news to follow on yesterday’s post about attacks against aid workers. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has reported that two of its staff were killed Sunday in northwestern Pakistan.

According to the MSF press release:

“Riaz Ahmad (24) and Nasar Ali (27) had left Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, in two ambulances to collect people injured during fighting in nearby Charbagh and bring them to the hospital for treatment. At around 3.00pm local time their ambulances, clearly identified as medical vehicles, came under fire inside Charbagh and both were killed. A third volunteer worker for MSF was injured in the leg. The drivers escaped without injury.

‘We are profoundly shocked and saddened by the death of our colleagues,’ said Fasil Tezera, Head of Mission in Pakistan for MSF. ‘In any conflict situation, including Swat, it is absolutely imperative that all parties resolutely respect humanitarian medical assistance, medical personnel and medical facilities.’

The deaths of the two medical workers occurred on a day of heavy fighting in Swat that claimed the lives of dozens of civilians.

He continued, ‘The day our colleagues Nasar and Riaz were killed was their day off, but they had come to work anyway because they’d heard there were large numbers of people wounded in fighting who needed urgent medical assistance. They volunteered because of their strong desire to help others. They will be greatly missed - their dedication to bringing medical aid to people who urgently required it, under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, was an inspiration to many inside MSF and beyond. We share the deep sorrow of their families and friends and right now our priority is to support them as much as we can.’

MSF has completely suspended its medical activities in Swat, including all life-saving operations.

Intense fighting continues to rage in Swat today, trapping the entire civilian population. The extreme violence has displaced approximately 25,000 people in the area. MSF is unable to provide any assistance.”

Our thoughts and prayers are with Riaz Ahmad and Nasar Ali’s families and colleagues.

[Photo from MSF]

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Comments (4)

nasar was my brother. i m proud of him .he loved to elp people on the he was shot he was off but he still wan save life of others. we miss him and e will be always in our heart.my father is 65.he always cries when he talk about him.
syed hakim shah
boston usa

Posted by syed shah on 02/26/2009 @ 10:00PM PT
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Syed,

I'm so sorry for your loss,

Michael

Posted by Michael Bear on 03/01/2009 @ 04:15PM PT
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KAKA,

do you remember me, I'm ISRAR??? I will not call you syed hakim shah because you and NASAR are like my brothers I will call you KAKA that I used to call you since I was 12. KAKA what happened to our Nasar??? I've been out since 1999, was in Karachi, then UK and now in Dubai.... trust me I cried alot when I got to know that... I've tried all my level best to contact on your PTCL but could not get through at all... Also found the link for the swat human organization and sent below e-mail. KAKA I want u to get back to me as soon as possible.

Dear Mr. Amjad Ali,

First of all, thank you very much for being SYF organization.

It's with utmost profound sorrows to know the sad demise of Nasir Ali of Dakorak-Swat, who was my childhood closest friend ever was killed in an humiliate war in charbagh -swat. That incident is beyond my imagination. We spent about 10 years together, he was my teacher in 1999 as well, taught me a lot of things which I will never forget. Nasar Ali was the only nicest guy in his family that I could share a lot of things with.

I have been in Dubai for about 2 years now working with an Auto-Mobile industry. Our friendship suffered when for education advancement I left Dakorak in 2001 and moved out to Karachi, where I joined the British Council as a student + member and completed my graduation from Karachi University in 2003 then travelled to the UK and complete my MBA and after that I moved out to Dubai for economic betterment but I have always been in contact with Nasar Ali especially when I was in Karachi and for a quick business opportunities in Mingora in 2004.

I have tried all the contacts I know from Dakorak but none of them exist they are either disconnected or people left the village.

I would like to contact any of Nasar Ali family members whether in Dubai or Swat to express my grief on his death. Inna-Lil-Lahi- Wa-Enna-Elihi- Rajioon. I had his home number 0946-730342 and I tried many times but could not get through.

I have spent about 2 hours to find any link that will connect me to his employment organization, any link that would help me find what happened to my dearest friend and any contact that would help me connect to any of his family members and luckily finally I found SYF.

I would like to contribute some part of my income to your organization as well. On a special note: hats off to Nasir Ali, very lucky was Nasir Ali to have such a blissful death while helping others, he could do anything in his life, could move out and make good money, but he decided to stay and help his people. May Allah rest his soul in peace Insha-Allah.

I look forward to hearing from you at the earliest.

Thanks & Best wishes,

Israr Ahmad

Contact Details:

Mobile: (Business) 00971502588548 ( available from 09:00 am - 5:00 pm only)

(Personal) 00971509437154 ( 24/7 available) anytime

Posted by Israr Ahmad on 03/25/2009 @ 01:08AM PT
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kaka,

my e-mail address:

isrardxb@yahoo.co.uk

thanks

Posted by Israr Ahmad on 03/25/2009 @ 10:24PM PT
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Michael has worked for NGOs in Afghanistan, across east and central Africa, and Iraq. Prior to going overseas, he worked on a project providing assistance to the United Nations on the application of International Humanitarian Law to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.