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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 04
22 - 28 January 2005


CONTENTS:

PAKISTAN: Comprehensive Afghan census to begin in February
PAKISTAN: Winter rainfall to boost wheat crop
PAKISTAN: Focus on lack of development in Balochistan
NEPAL: Interview with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise
   Arbour
NEPAL: Focus on the plight of rural people living with HIV/AIDS
CENTRAL ASIA: UN counter-terrorism meeting
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Rights activist warns of election violence
KYRGYZSTAN: Review of 2004
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with counter-narcotics minister
AFGHANISTAN: Whooping cough outbreak kills at least 28 children
AFGHANISTAN: Regional commands to boost security
KAZAKHSTAN: OSCE migration conference ends
KAZAKHSTAN: Review of 2004
TAJIKISTAN: Infant mortality on the rise in north


PAKISTAN: Comprehensive Afghan census to begin in February

The first comprehensive census of more than a million Afghans living in 
Pakistan is to begin on 20 February, authorities told IRIN on Thursday. In 
preparation, census staff have almost completed the mapping of areas where 
Afghans are believed to be residing across the country. "The census teams 
have finished the work of identifying locations of Afghan households in 
many areas, like in the provinces of Sindh and NWFP [North West Frontier 
Province], while in Punjab, over 95 percent of the mapping has been done," 
Dr Imran Zeb, director at the office of the Chief Commissionerate for 
Afghan Refugees (CCAR), told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Winter rainfall to boost wheat crop

Widespread winter rainfall is expected to significantly improve this 
year's agricultural output and go some way to alleviating the country's 
water shortage predicted by the national water authority last November. 
"The current rain spell is very useful and timely for the wheat crop, 
particularly in the rain-fed areas of the upper Punjab, including the 
districts of Attock, Chakwal, Jehlum and Rawalpindi, because almost 20 
percent of our total wheat comes from these arid areas," Dr Munir Ahmed, 
an agricultural expert at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics 
(PIDE) told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Full report


PAKISTAN: Focus on lack of development in Balochistan

A recent attack on a key natural gas installation in the impoverished 
southern province of Balochistan, home to Pakistan's main oil and gas 
resources, left much of the country without natural gas for days. The 
attack, carried out by local tribesman in mid-January, has thrown the 
spotlight on an undeveloped corner of Pakistan that activists say has been 
largely neglected by Islamabad. "The delivery system of basic social 
services like health, education, water and sanitation needs to be 
strengthened and easily accessible to common people," Abd-ur-Razzaq Kemal, 
head of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), told IRIN 
from the Pakistani capital.

Full report


NEPAL: Interview with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour

United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour has just completed 
a four-day visit to Nepal to assess the human rights situation in the 
country. Kathmandu had been fighting a Maoist insurgency since 1997, more 
than 6,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict. Both sides have 
been accused of serious ongoing human rights abuses.

Full report


NEPAL: Focus on the plight of rural people living with HIV/AIDS

With deep sunk eyes and parched lips, 30-year old Maya Rumba stares feebly 
from her broken bed. "Help me," is all she has the strength to utter. Her 
skeletal body weakened by severe malnourishment, Rumba is living all alone 
with full blown AIDS in her small hut at Sai Foot, a remote village in 
Makwanpur district in eastern Nepal, 128 km south of the capital city 
Kathmandu. She is so weak that she has to drag herself around with her 
hands. She has not eaten for days and is suffering from hepatitis C and 
tuberculosis. There are dozens of NGOs based in Hetauda town, 30 minutes 
from her village, but no health workers have come to offer her care or 
medicine.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: UN counter-terrorism meeting

The fourth special meeting of the Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) of the 
UN Security Council took place in the Kazakh commercial capital, Almaty, 
on Wednesday and Thursday, with the participation of dozens of 
international and regional organisations, Kazakh foreign ministry 
spokesman, Ilyas Omarov, told IRIN from Almaty. "Terrorism doesn't have 
borders," Omarov said, noting that the main point discussed at the meeting 
was elaboration of a unified plan of action on combating terrorism. The 
event served as a platform for exchanging current views, so that member 
states come to a common position on the threat, he said.

Full report


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

The week in Central Asia started with reports of Kazakh authorities 
placing jailed opposition leader, Galymzhan Zhakiyanov, into a punishment 
cell for allegedly refusing to do prison work. The AP reported on Saturday 
that the move against Zhakiyanov came as his Democratic Choice party 
battles its court-ordered closure earlier this month for extremism - an 
allegation denied by the party. Zhakiyanov was convicted in 2002 on 
corruption charges, which his supporters and international rights groups 
contend were politically motivated. Observers see the closure of 
Democratic Choice as part of a fresh crackdown by Kazakh President 
Nursultan Nazarbayev on the opposition to ensure his re-election after his 
current seven-year term expires in January 2006.

Full report


KYRGYZSTAN: Rights activist warns of election violence

A leading rights activist has warned of possible violence in the run-up to 
next month's parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic of 
Kyrgyzstan. "The people will go to streets to protest," Ramazan Dyryldaev, 
chairman of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, told IRIN from Vienna 
on Thursday, warning authorities in his homeland could resort to violence. 
"Kyrgyz opposition and citizens are moving towards a Georgian or 
Ukraine-like revolution. I am getting information on that from various 
sources. At least there is already a move in that direction," he said.

Full report


KYRGYZSTAN: Review of 2004

Little has changed in Kyrgyzstan's political life over the past year. A 
local analyst told IRIN that it was like a temporary calm ahead of major 
events, including both parliamentary and presidential elections, scheduled 
for 2005. While the country's fragmented opposition made timid efforts to 
consolidate, it continued to lack mass popular appeal. Once praised as an 
island of democracy in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan continued to emulate its 
more authoritarian neighbours by clamping down on opposition groups, 
independent media and rights activists.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: Interview with counter-narcotics minister

Afghanistan's estimated opium output stood at an alarming 4,600 mt in 
2004. The country retained its title of being the biggest global producer 
of the drug. But Kabul is optimistic that in 2005 intensive eradication 
programmes and alternative livelihood projects will have an impact on 
opium cultivation and trade. In an interview with IRIN, Habibullah Qaderi, 
head of the newly established counter-narcotics ministry, estimated a 
30-50 percent reduction in cultivation this year and called for greater 
long-term donor commitment to assist the ministry in tackling the opium 
scourge.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: Whooping cough outbreak kills at least 28 children

The spread of a severe whooping cough outbreak has been controlled in the 
central province of Urozgan after health workers finally reached the 
mountainous district of Gezab earlier this week. Officials at the Ministry 
of Public Health (MoPH) told IRIN the outbreak killed at least 28 children 
in its early days. "Fortunately the latest reports from Urozgan indicate 
that the outbreak has been prevented from spreading further," Ammanullah 
Hussaini, head of public information at MoPH, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Full report


AFGHANISTAN: Regional commands to boost security

Mohammad Mossa, 38, a newly trained Afghan National Army (ANA) officer, 
looked confident after graduating from the French-supported ANA staff 
training college in the capital, Kabul on Tuesday. The former militia 
leader was trained by French military experts in management and 
intelligence gathering on the two-month training course."Now I am fighter, 
a computer operator, a manager and a good planner," Mossa said, as he 
received his diploma. He is one of nearly 300 ANA senior officers that 
have been trained in the centre. He will be posted to a new regional 
command in charge of some of the 20,000 troops that comprise the new army. 
The force is expected to reach a strength of 70,000 troops by 2006, an 
official at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) told IRIN.

Full report


KAZAKHSTAN: OSCE migration conference ends

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has 
concluded an international seminar on the economic and environmental 
aspects of migration in the Kazakh commercial capital of Almaty. 
"Migration has been chosen by the chairmanship as one of their 
priorities," Marc Baltes, deputy coordinator for the OSCE's economic and 
environmental activities, told IRIN from Almaty, emphasising the seminar's 
environmental and economic perspective.

Full report


KAZAKHSTAN: Review of 2004

Despite continued economic progress this year, the vast majority of the 
country's 15 million inhabitants have yet to reap the benefits. Economic 
growth remains largely dependent on natural resources like oil and gas, 
resulting in over-exposure to global demand and price fluctuations, with 
not enough money being invested in human resources. According to the UN's 
2004 country report, rural poverty was almost twice as high as in urban 
areas, with young people particularly vulnerable in terms of employment, 
and hence poverty. Unemployment and lack of prospects for young people 
continued to fuel the number of injecting drug users in the country, 
currently estimated at some 250,000.

Full report


TAJIKISTAN: Infant mortality on the rise in north

The infant mortality rate is going up in northern Tajikistan, health 
officials say, citing poor socioeconomic conditions in the country. Of the 
48,997 births officially registered in the region in 2004, there were 
1,037 deaths of infants under one. This means the province has an infant 
mortality rate of 21.2 per 1,000 live births. In 2003, the rate in the 
province of Sogd stood at 13.5 cases per 1,000 live births. And even these 
figures may underestimate the truth. Tajik health officials conceded that 
not all cases of deaths, especially of infant ones, were reported by local 
families.

Full report


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