Pak clerics for expulsion of women aid workers from quake-hit area

The clerics accuse the women, including Pakistanis employed by foreign non-government organisations (NGOs), of dressing improperly, mixing with men and drinking alcohol, which is banned in Islamic Pakistan.

"We are not against the NGOs, but we are against them spreading obscenity in society and trying to weaken our faith by corrupting our women," Moazzam Ali Shah, head of Tehreek-e-Islaha Muashra, or Movement to Cleanse Society, told Reuters in Mansehra town.

The clerics have not said what action they might take if the women aid workers are not asked to leave.

More than 50 international NGOs are based in Mansehra carrying out relief and rehabilitation projects for the victims of a massive earthquake that killed over 73,000 people and rendered millions homeless in Pakistan's Kashmir and Frontier province last October.

Mansehra is the district where Balakot, one of the towns hardest hit by a massive earthquake last October, is located.

"We know an ultimatum has been given and we are waiting to see what happens," said Frank Lehmann, a senior official with World Vision, an NGO involved in providing schooling for children still living in tent encampments.

"We respect the local culture and try to behave accordingly," Lehmann said, adding that the relief agencies had raised their concerns with the local authorities.

Police have given assurances that aid workers will be protected, while talks are held with clerics to settle the issue.

"No one would be allowed to disrupt relief work and we are absolutely serious about security issues," Waqas Aziz, a district police officer, said.

"We see this as a local issue, which is being defused. But we have told the NGOs to take care about local sensitivities while working in this area," he said.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa, an Islamic charity with links with a banned militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba, is active in the area, and its officials in Balakot told Reuters they supported the allegations against the foreign aid workers.

The United States added the charity to a list of terrorist organisations earlier this year, but there have been no moves against it by the Pakistani authorities.