“Everybody seems to be on pins and needles,” says Bruce Colburn, a professional artist who is among them. The Marriott bombing on Sept. 20 destroyed the hotel and took at least 53 lives.
Colburn, an American citizen, moved to Islamabad three years ago because his wife works for the World Bank. But now they are choosing to leave because like many other foreign nationals, they don’t feel safe and only see the situation getting worse.
Foreign diplomats and employees of such agencies as the World Bank and United Nations (U.N.) lived in areas that surrounded the Marriott Hotel. In many cases they heard or felt the bomb blast. Windows in some nearby houses shattered.
On Oct. 2, the U.N. issued a press release stating that the security situation in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Quetta was at “Phase III,” a stage requiring U.N. employees’ family members to leave Pakistan for an indefinite period.
The latest suicide bombing at the Marriott, along with the intensifying fighting of the Pakistan Army with the Taliban along Pakistan’s frontier areas has put the community of foreign nationals in Pakistan on high alert.
“Many NGO’s [non-governmental organizations] take their cues from the U.N. since they do not have their own security personnel,” said Colburn about other foreign organizations’ decision to send staff home.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office has also decided that children of U.K.-based staff at the British High Commission in Islamabad should return to the U.K. The British government representation is set to be reduced from 250 to 90 and the Oaks British School in Islamabad has closed its doors indefinitely.
The United States Embassy in Islambad has not issued any statement. The embassy only posts essential employees, not families.
Adjacent to the Marriott Hotel is the Evacuee Trust Complex building, which was the hub of the IT industry in Islamabad. The building housed around 23 prominent IT companies and multinationals like Microsoft, LMKR, and Touchstone Communications.
The Marriott bomb destroyed most of the offices in the building. It was five days before the employees were allowed to collect their belongings and view the damage.
“The building's structure is dangerous,” said Malik Ashraf Awan, a senior civil defense officer. “It consumed too much heat and shock.”
It will take at least three months to rebuild the offices, and during that time companies like Microsoft have to find temporary office space. Some may decide to relocate.
Although the yearlong string of bombings in various cities of Pakistan has killed mostly Pakistani nationals, Islamabad is quickly emptying of nonessential foreign workers.
