Pakistan heightens scrutiny of foreigners, U.S. and humanitarian aid officials say

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities are increasingly monitoring and restricting the movements of foreigners working in this country, according to U.S. and international aid officials, some of whom said they believe the changes represent a backlash against U.S. actions in Pakistan that have enraged the government and the public.

The added restraints include four police refusals to allow U.S. Embassy employees to enter the volatile northwestern city of Peshawar over the past 10 days. Embassy officials said the employees were making routine trips to attend meetings or to fill in for workers at the U.S. Consulate there. Those incidents came after months of what international aid organizations said are growing requirements for federal permits to travel in areas that had been easily accessible, as well as deportations of workers whose visas have expired while their extension applications languished in bureaucracy.

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The widely publicized episodes in Peshawar threaten to become another flash point in a frayed bilateral relationship that U.S. officials had hoped was improving, after fatal shootings by a CIA contractor and the U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden. International aid groups say the fallout from those incidents, which sparked debate about the presence of Americans in Pakistan, has prompted scrutiny of all foreigners that could imperil humanitarian work in zones recovering from conflict and floods.

“It has the potential to cause serious delays, especially because some of this donor money is time-sensitive and emergency-related,” said Jack Byrne, country representative for Catholic Relief Services and chairman of an umbrella group of international humanitarian organizations in Pakistan.

The heightened restrictions mostly apply in the northwest region bordering the militant-riddled tribal belt, and several Pakistani officials said they are designed to ensure foreigners’ safety. But security in Peshawar and its province has generally improved in the past year, and one provincial official said the restrictions also reflect concerns that foreigners have too much latitude in Pakistan.

That sentiment has grown since CIA contractor Raymond A. Davis was arrested after killing two Pakistanis in January, sparking a diplomatic row.

“That incident shook the mutual trust of both governments. We don’t want a repeat,” said the provincial official, Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. “In no country are the foreign diplomats freely roaming without informing the government. But when we do this, there is a hue and cry.”

In each of the recent incidents, U.S. officials said the embassy followed a long-standing routine of notifying Peshawar police that employees were driving from the capital, Islamabad, so police could escort them from a highway tollbooth into the city.

On those occasions, the employees were turned away at the tollbooth for lacking permits known as “No Objection Certificates,” or NOCs, which are issued by the federal Interior Ministry but can also involve approvals from the military or intelligence agencies.