Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-77: 23-Jun-06
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 77
17 - 23 June 2006
AFGHANISTAN: Press watchdog unhappy at new media restraints
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with regional analyst Barnet Rubin
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
KAZAKHSTAN: Tajiks to lose refugee status
NEPAL: WFP begins emergency food relief operation in west
NEPAL: More than a million child labourers
PAKISTAN: Government to evacuate 30 villages due to landslide risk
PAKISTAN: Quake survivors living with disabilities ponder future
PAKISTAN: Thousands still entombed under quake rubble
PAKISTAN: New health units established in quake zone
PAKISTAN: Call for renewed support for Afghan refugees
PAKISTAN: Journalists protest at killing of colleague
PAKISTAN: Quake survivors to receive radios following customs dispute
TURKMENISTAN: OSCE mulls over spy allegations
AFGHANISTAN: Press watchdog unhappy at new media restraints
New media directives aimed at restricting local coverage of
Afghanistan's security situation have been described as "outrageous" by
a press monitoring group on Wednesday, calling the ban harassment of
independent media. "This means that the media cannot talk about the
reality of what is going on in Afghanistan - the killings, car bombs and
military operations," Vincent Brossel, head of Reporter Sans Frontiers'
(RSF) Asia Pacific desk, told IRIN from Paris.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54076&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN: Interview with regional analyst Barnet Rubin
Almost five years since the US-led coalition ousted the Taliban regime
from Afghanistan, observers say security is at an all-time low outside
the capital and confidence in the international effort to rebuild the
country is questionable. Despite presidential and parliamentary
elections leading to the country=92s first democratically elected
legislature in more than three decades, economic progress has been
painfully slow with opium production remaining widespread.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54054&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly News Wrap
This week in Central Asia, the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE) criticised a proposed media bill in Kazakhstan that
would, if passed by the parliament, impose stronger restrictions on the
media, a Russian online newspaper reported on Tuesday. OSCE said the
bill, which would introduce high registration fees for media outlets,
while requiring re-registration for others, was restrictive and called
on Astana to withdraw the bill. The government, which is lobbying for
chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009, said that the bill had been necessary
to reduce the number of news outlets and to ensure public trust in the
media.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54126&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA
KAZAKHSTAN: Tajiks to lose refugee status
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Kazakhstan has confirmed that it will soon be withdrawing the refugee
status of some 1,500 Tajik nationals living in Central Asia=92s largest
state. The move comes in accordance with a global recognition that all
Tajik refugees - irrespective of their country of asylum - ceased to be
refugees after 30 June.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54102&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KAZAKHSTAN
NEPAL: WFP begins emergency food relief operation in west
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun its first ever
emergency food operation in the Himalayan kingdom due to acute food
shortages faced by villagers in remote districts of northwestern Nepal.
Traditionally, districts like Jumla, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Kalikot,
Jajarkot, Dailekh, Rukum, Rolpa and Bajura have a history of suffering
from food shortages given their high altitude locations where there are
very steep slopes, poor soil and an especially dry climate =97 all of
which limit cultivation potential, according to Action Contre la Faim
(ACF), a French international NGO.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54077&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
NEPAL: More than a million child labourers
Over a million Nepalese children are working as child labourers in
Nepal, with 127,000 involved in the worst forms, according to the
government=92s National Living Standard Survey (NLSS). =93This is our
society=92s bitter reality,=94 said Gauri Pradhan from the local NGO, Child
Workers in Nepal (CWIN), which has been leading the campaign against
exploitation of children for the last 19 years.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54026&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL
PAKISTAN: Government to evacuate 30 villages due to landslide risk
Some 11,000 residents of 30 villages around the city of Muzaffarabad,
capital of quake-hit Pakistani-administered Kashmir will be evacuated
from their houses by the end of this month after their villages were
declared unsafe and prone to further landslides, officials said on
Friday. =93So far some 1,054 families or 6,515 individuals living in 22
villages near Muzaffarabad and more than 700 families [around 4,500
individuals] living in eight villages in Hattian Bala [a district close
to Mazaffarabad] will be evacuated before 1 July when the rainy monsoon
[season] starts,=94 Raja Abas, a commissioner from the government=92s Camp
Management Organization (CMO), said in Muzaffarabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54125&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Quake survivors living with disabilities ponder future
Latif Ashraf is considering the layout of his new house carefully. In
the family=92s tent, set up at their village 10 km outside the town of
Bagh, one of the towns worst hit by the 8 October quake in
Pakistani-administered Kashmir, he shows a new set of drawings to his
wife Shanaz. The drawings show kitchen counters built low down on the
wall, cupboards at floor level and sinks raised about a metre from the
ground. The purpose is to enable Shahnaz, left paralyzed from the waist
down after being trapped under the rubble of her home in the quake, to
manage cooking, cleaning and the care of the couple=92s two small
children.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54079&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Thousands still entombed under quake rubble
Pointing to the remains of his shattered house, 35-year-old Ghulam
Rasool explained how six members of his family died when a huge
landslide destroyed his village during the 8 October earthquake that hit
northern Pakistan last year, leaving more than 75,000 dead. =93If I was
sure that I would find the dead bodies of my beloved sons, mother,
father, wife and my little brother, I would have worked day and night
but I know it is very difficult for me to search for them in such a huge
hill of debris and rubble,=94 Rasool said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54104&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: New health units established in quake zone
The World Health Organization (WHO) handed out 23 newly constructed
Basic Health Units (BHUs) on Saturday to health authorities in
earthquake-affected Pakistani-administered Kashmir. =93All these BHUs -
equipped with medicine, supplies and furniture are currently
operational, but we are giving [them] officially to the government to
take care of the maintenance and staffing process,=94 Dr Khalif Bile, WHO
representative in Pakistan, told reporters in Muzaffarabad, capital of
the Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54050&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Call for renewed support for Afghan refugees
Marking World Refugee Day, aid workers on Tuesday called for
international support for new initiatives to assist more than 2.6
million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan as well as those hosting
them. "We remain committed to facilitating their [Afghan refugees] safe
and dignified return home. But we must also take a holistic approach to
assist both refugees and their host communities to increase their
self-sufficiency," Mustafa Elkanzi, Country Director of the US-based
charity, International Rescue Committee (IRC), said in the Pakistani
capital, Islamabad.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54061&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Journalists protest at killing of colleague
Journalists' bodies across Pakistan held protest demonstrations on
Monday against the killing of a reporter in the restive North Waziristan
agency of the western tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The handcuffed
body of 30-year-old Hayatullah Khan was discovered on Friday outside the
town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan tribal agency. He had been shot in
the back of the head, local media reported.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54044&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN: Quake survivors to receive radios following customs dispute
The international media support NGO, Internews, is set to distribute
10,000 radios among quake-affected people in northern Pakistan, after
losing a four-month battle to have customs charges on the Chinese-made
sets lifted. The radios will assist quake survivors in gaining
information about reconstruction and returns. "We were set to distribute
the radio sets in March but we had an issue with the [Pakistani]
authorities on custom charges. Finally now we've paid a sum, which is
more than the original price of these radios," Matiullah Jan from
Internews Pakistan said in the capital, Islamabad on Wednesday.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54101&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN: OSCE mulls over spy allegations
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has yet
to respond in full over accusations that a member of its staff was
involved in a plot to undermine the Turkmen government. "We don't have
any comment to make on the details," Martin Nesirky, a spokesman for the
organisation said from Vienna on Tuesday, referring to government
accusations made public in a televised broadcast one night earlier in
the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=54063&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN
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