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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 56
21 - 27 January 2006


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UN warns of bird flu risk
AFGHANISTAN: TV channel rejects government allegations of improper
   broadcasting
AFGHANISTAN: Diplomats visit new Provincial Reconstruction Team in
   Panjshir province
AFGHANISTAN: Government to present five-year development plan at London
   conference
AFGHANISTAN: Pervasive gender gaps need urgent addressing, says World
   Bank
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: EU allocates E20 million for Afghan refugees
   and IDPs
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Rise in prostitution threatens to fuel jump in HIV/AIDS
NEPAL: Rights activists concerned over escalating violence
NEPAL: Police again clash with protesters
NEPAL: National strike ends with more violence
PAKISTAN: USAID to build 60 schools in quake area
PAKISTAN: Abandoned cinema becomes rehab centre for female quake
   victims
UZBEKISTAN: Rights groups condemn closed trial of Andijan activist


AFGHANISTAN: UN warns of bird flu risk

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that
Afghanistan is at risk from avian influenza, also known as bird flu, and
has called for US $1.5 million in donor assistance to thwart a possible
outbreak of the disease. "Afghanistan is at a crossroads of the
migration routes of many bird species and the country is at risk - the
enemy is at the gate," Serge Verniau, FAO representative in Afghanistan,
alerted at a press conference at the Qargha Lake, just outside the
Afghan capital, Kabul, on Monday. "We need to act now and in a practical
way."

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51306&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: TV channel rejects government allegations of improper
broadcasting

A private Afghan television channel on Monday rejected government
allegations that it had broadcast non-Islamic material after being fined
US $1,000 by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC) for showing
clips from Bollywood films. "We are extremely concerned about the recent
decision made by the government which failed to provide prior
clarification. The decision contradicts the current media rules and
policies," Haji Mohammad Rawish, administrative officer for the Afghan
TV channel, its official name, told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51277&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Diplomats visit new Provincial Reconstruction Team in
Panjshir province

Diplomats of various countries have visited the first Provincial
Reconstruction Team (PRT) headed by a US civilian in the northern
Panjshir province to observe reconstruction efforts in the area, a
statement by the US-led Coalition forces said on Sunday. "Government
officials from 13 different nations and the European Union were briefed
about reconstruction projects by Combined Joint Task Force-76 (CJTF-76)
Army Commander Maj Gen Jason Kamiya before visiting the Panjshir PRT,"
the statement said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51280&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Government to present five-year development plan at London
conference

The Afghan government will present a five-year development plan to its
international supporters at a key conference in London at the end of
this month, officials at the Afghan foreign ministry confirmed on Monday
in the capital, Kabul. Known as the Interim National Development
Strategy (INDS), the plan focuses on security, governance and the rule
of law, human rights, sustainable economic and social development, and
counter narcotics.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51279&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Pervasive gender gaps need urgent addressing, says World
Bank

A new World Bank report has warned that reconstruction and development
in post-conflict Afghanistan will be severely affected unless pervasive
gender gaps are addressed. In the report, National Reconstruction and
Poverty Reduction (NRPR): The Role of Women in Afghanistan's Future,
issued on Wednesday, the bank called for legal reforms to remove gender
inequities within family law in the country.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51348&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN: EU allocates E20 million for Afghan refugees
and IDPs

The European Union (EU) has allocated E20 million (US $24 million) in
humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and areas of neighbouring Pakistan and
Iran to boost refugees' conditions. The Commission's humanitarian aid
assistance will focus on the needs for the return and reintegration of
600,000 refugees and 120,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). The
most important sectors are water and sanitation, shelter and protection,
the EU's executive European Commission (EC) said in a statement on
Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51361&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN-IRAN-PAKISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, Tajikistan said it would tighten control over
its largest natural reserve in the south in a bid to prevent bird flu,
the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Saturday. The Tigrovaya
Balka (Tiger Valley) reserve is a nesting-place for mass bird migration
in the former Soviet republic and from March till late autumn, hundreds
of thousands of wild birds annually migrating from the Persian Gulf to
Southeast Asia come to the area close to the Afghan border.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51378&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


KYRGYZSTAN: Rise in prostitution threatens to fuel jump in HIV/AIDS

Strolling through the many parks of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, it is
hard not to notice the increasing number of commercial sex workers
(CSWs) looking for customers. The majority of women, stamping their feet
in the cold to keep warm while trying to make an eye contact with male
passers-by, came to the city from rural areas in search of a better
life. An estimated 40 percent of the country's 5 million people live
below the national poverty line, according to national statistics, while
in rural areas that rate increases to over 65 percent.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51319&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Rights activists concerned over escalating violence

Human rights activists in Nepal are concerned over a sharp escalation in
violence at the hands of both security forces and Maoist rebels, who
have been waging an armed rebellion against the Nepalese government for
the past ten years. With upcoming municipal elections prompting a spate
of mass political protests around the country, the Himalayan kingdom has
witnessed a wave of arrests and killings over the past one week.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51274&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Police again clash with protesters

Violence erupted on the streets of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, on
Tuesday, despite an earlier lifting of a ban on mass rallies and the
resumption of mobile phone services in the city. Security in the capital
had been tightened after 11 policemen were killed near the border of
Kathmandu on 14 January by the Maoists, the communist rebels who have
been waging a violent campaign against the Nepalese government since
1996.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51310&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: National strike ends with more violence

Over 200 political demonstrators have been arrested throughout Nepal on
Thursday during peaceful rallies held by the seven-party alliance to
enforce a nationwide strike. The opposition are protesting against local
elections slated for next month, which they believe are intended to
legitimise the government of King Gyanendra. The king seized power in a
coup nearly one year ago, sacking former prime minister Sher Bahadur
Deuba and his cabinet for failing to deal with Nepal's long-running
Maoist insurgency.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51362&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


PAKISTAN: USAID to build 60 schools in quake area

As part of its reconstruction efforts, the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) will construct over 60 schools and 20
health units in quake-affected areas of Pakistan's North West Frontier
Province (NWFP) and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "The construction of
the first school in the city of Balakot - one of the most affected
cities in NWFP - would start in February," said an agency press
statement issued in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51307&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Abandoned cinema becomes rehab centre for female quake victims

Hindi films from Mumbai's giant film industry flicker on the screens at
the Melody Cinema in the midst of a congested bazaar. But the films are
no longer played on the giant screen or for mass audiences. Instead, a
line of television sets with DVD players, placed before beds on the
second floor, play the movies for women who lie flat on a row of beds,
their feet slightly elevated on cushions. Most of them will never walk
again.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51316&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Rights groups condemn closed trial of Andijan activist

Rights activists in Uzbekistan on Monday criticised the closed trial and
conviction of Saidjahon Zainabitdinov from the eastern city of Andijan,
who had been instrumental in alerting the world about the violent
clampdown by government forces on protests in the city in May. Chairman
of the Andijan-based human rights group Appeliatsia (Appeal), the
activist had been in custody for almost eight months and was believed to
have gone on trial two weeks ago, according to rights groups.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51275&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


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