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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 60
18 - 26 February 2006


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Efforts against bird flu insufficient - FAO
AFGHANISTAN: Militants set fire to a school in southern Helmand
AFGHANISTAN: New UN envoy calls for end to attacks on schools
AFGHANISTAN: Five ex-commanders surrender arms to DIAG
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: Bride kidnapping hampers women's education prospects
KYRGYZSTAN: Typhoid cases reported in south
KYRGYZSTAN: Landslide activity starts early in 2006
NEPAL: Grave danger for civilians due to the conflict
NEPAL: Overview analysis: A people's war?
NEPAL: The political context of the crisis in Nepal
NEPAL: Terrorism or liberation? Life in a rebel-held village
PAKISTAN: Women's committee highlights problems facing women in quake
   camps
PAKISTAN: Education key priority in quake region - Save the Children
PAKISTAN: Afghan repatriation assistance programme set to resume
PAKISTAN: Quake-affected Allai Valley receives livestock support
PAKISTAN: Mob violence heightens insecurity among minorities
PAKISTAN: USAID voucher programme makes difference in quake-affected
   north
PAKISTAN: Pessimism reigns as quake families struggle to rebuild lives
PAKISTAN: Assessment report reveals far reaching damage to livelihoods
PAKISTAN: NGO launches economic empowerment events ahead of Women's Day
PAKISTAN: WHO satisfied with the level of preparedness against bird flu
TAJIKISTAN: Donors call on country to strengthen battle again HIV/AIDS


AFGHANISTAN: Efforts against bird flu insufficient - FAO

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that efforts
by Afghan authorities and the donor community to mitigate the risk of a
potential outbreak of avian influenza, otherwise known as bird flu, have
been insufficient. "With cases of the deadly disease detected in Iran
and India, Afghanistan is practically surrendered," Serge Verniau, FAO
representative in Afghanistan, said at a press conference at the
Kala-e-Hashmat Khan Lake, outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, on
Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51859&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Militants set fire to a school in southern Helmand

Suspected Taliban militants have set fire to a school for some 1,500
boys in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand, officials confirmed
on Tuesday. "Last night militants set fire to a boys' high school in
Zarghon village of Nadali district, around 17 km west of the district
capital, Lashkargah. All the books, desks and chairs have been burnt,
but no one was killed or injured in the incident," Haji Mohammad Qasim,
head of Helmand's educational department, said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51838&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: New UN envoy calls for end to attacks on schools

The United Nations' new top envoy to Afghanistan has called on militants
to stop attacking educational institutions, following a series of
attacks on schools and teachers in the restive south of the country. "I
cannot understand why anyone would target schools and teachers. These
attacks amount to a denial of the human right to education for
Afghanistan's children," Tom Koenigs, the UN Special Representative to
Afghanistan told reporters during his first briefing in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, on Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51884&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Five ex-commanders surrender arms to DIAG

Five ex-commanders in Afghanistan's southwestern Paktya province
voluntarily surrendered 15 mt of ammunition, as well as more than 30
light and heavy weapons, to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups
(DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed initiative announced on
Tuesday in the Afghan capital, Kabul. Following the disarmament of
Afghan militia forces under the UN-backed Disarmament, Demobilisation
and Reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants programme, completed in late
June, the Afghan government and the UN are now focusing on the DIAG
initiative.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51833&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

This week in Central Asia, the slaying of an opposition leader in
Kazakhstan is fuelling a political crisis in the region's largest
nation, international media reports claimed. Five Kazakh security
service officers were arrested and the national security chief, Nartai
Dutbayev, resigned, the Kazakh media reported. The arrests and
resignation came just days after Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, a Kazakh
opposition leader, his bodyguard and driver had been killed and their
bodies were found in the mountains near the Kazakh commercial capital of
Almaty on 13 February.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51898&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


KYRGYZSTAN: Bride kidnapping hampers women's education prospects

Meerim was a 21-year-old university student in the Kyrgyz capital,
Bishkek, when her admirer, an old classmate from the central province of
Naryn, abducted her for marriage. "My schoolmates suggested having a
reunion and we met in a cafe in Bishkek. We were having a small party
with drinks and snacks. Then Nurlan [her then classmate and now her
husband] offered to continue the celebrations at his home with kebabs
and music," Meerim said in Bishkek, recalling the experience.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51852&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Typhoid cases reported in south

Almost half a dozen patients have been hospitalised in southern
Kyrgyzstan with typhoid in a town near radioactive dump sites. "Eight
local residents have been hospitalised over the past week in the
Mailuu-Suu town in the southern province of Jalal-Abad and we have five
confirmed cases, the rest are ordinary diarrhoea instances," officials
at a local sanitary and epidemiological surveillance centre said from
Jalal-Abad on Monday. "All of them are residents of the upper area of
Mailuu-Suu known as Koktash settlement," they added.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51832&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: Landslide activity starts early in 2006

A landslide on Sunday ripped through a road linking the southern Kyrgyz
city of Osh with the Aravan district, blocking traffic and destroying
electricity and telephone services to the area, with no casualties
reported. "The traffic is very intense on this road but luckily no one
was there when the landslide hit. I saw from a distance how a large
landmass slid down and blocked the road," Usar Khalikov, a local taxi
driver who witnessed the landslide, said in Osh.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51809&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Grave danger for civilians due to the conflict

Kul Kumari Chapagain has not been able to sleep for over a week since
she lost her 21-year-old daughter Asmita in a roadside bomb planted by
the Maoist rebels. The bomb went off on 9 February on the main highway
of Nawalparasi district, 200 km south of the capital. It was targeted at
security personnel, but hit the innocent college girl leaving her family
and villagers shocked and devastated.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51834&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Overview analysis: A people's war?

Nepal's brutal conflict between Maoist insurgents and security forces
has exacted a heavy toll on the civilian population, especially those in
contested hill districts, many of whom already live near or on the
global poverty threshold. An estimated 12,000 people have been killed
since the Maoist faction of the Communist Party of Nepal, officially
launched its "people's war" in February 1996.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50589&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: The political context of the crisis in Nepal

The 1 February 2005 takeover of executive powers by King Gyanendra has
led to a new era of uncertainty in the tiny mountain kingdom of Nepal.
The king now rules the impoverished country of 25 million directly as
chairman of the Council of Ministers. The decision by the king to assume
direct rule is the latest move by the monarch to undermine democracy in
the country. Parliament was dissolved in May 2002 and elections -
planned for November of the same year - remain postponed.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50592&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Terrorism or liberation? Life in a rebel-held village

When the clock strikes four in the morning, Lambu Lama and his family
rush out of their home in a Maoist stronghold of Nepal. Rebels use the
storeroom at the back of Lama's house to clean and repair small arms and
construct bombs. During the day, the orchards around his hilltop house
echo to the sound of rifles cracking, as new recruits are initiated in
the use of weapons.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50557&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


PAKISTAN: Women's committee highlights problems facing women in quake
camps

Over 30 women sitting in a tent are holding up their right arms high in
the air, waiting for their turn to talk. Many are clutching scraps of
paper with meticulous lists written on them. One by one they stand up
and address the meeting in nervous, shaky voices. But as the women
around them nod in agreement and call out their support, their
confidence grows and so do their voices. This is Muzaffarabad's Female
Committee and for most of the women here, this is the first time they
have aired their problems in a public forum.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51827&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Education key priority in quake region - Save the Children

It will take years to restore the education system in earthquake-ravaged
Pakistan, says the UK-based charity Save the Children, which is
appealing for close to US $10 million. "Rebuilding all the schools will
take years. It is completely unacceptable for children to miss out on
their education while that happens," said Peter Sykes, emergency
programme manager with the international NGO Save the Children, at the
inauguration of a new classroom at the Chandara Boys Primary School near
Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51849&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Afghan repatriation assistance programme set to resume

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
in Pakistan has announced it will resume its Afghan voluntary
repatriation assistance programme on 1 March, after a winter break of
three months. The programme is into its last operational year under an
existing tripartite agreement between Islamabad, Kabul and the UN
refugee agency set to expire by December 2006.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51848&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Quake-affected Allai Valley receives livestock support

The international NGO Save the Children, with financial support from the
United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has begun a
livestock support project at the Mehra relief camp in the quake-ravaged
Allai Valley in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). "Some
Allai residents moved to the Mehra camp with their surviving livestock,
without much fodder, shelter and veterinary services. These [survivors]
could stand to lose their hard earned assets to the elements and disease
or be forced to sell at reduced rates," Erica Ahmed, a spokeswoman for
Save the Children said from Allai in the Battagram district of NWFP on
Tuesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51885&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Mob violence heightens insecurity among minorities

Huddled in a small group, three Christian men pore over the newspapers
early in the morning in the congested Mozang area of Lahore. All around,
vendors serve up thick, milky tea, glasses of 'lassi', greasy 'parathas'
and spicy omelets. The newspapers, borrowed from a nearby stand, display
vivid pictures of the mobs that rampaged through city streets on 14
February, burning random targets, including parked cars and motorcycles,
as part of ongoing protests against the publication in a Danish
newspaper of cartoons seen by many Muslims as blasphemous.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51808&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: USAID voucher programme makes difference in quake-affected
north

A United States Agency for International Development (USAID) voucher
distribution programme has begun to improve life for villagers in the
quake-ravaged Bagh district of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. The
USAID-sponsored voucher scheme being implemented by international
humanitarian agency GOAL was started in the last week of January, under
which US $100-vouchers have been distributed to 10,000 families in the
area. The vouchers enable families to purchase items of their choice to
supplement shelter kits containing corrugated iron and plastic sheeting.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51807&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Pessimism reigns as quake families struggle to rebuild lives

Snow has begun to recede from lower-lying villages in areas around the
quake-devastated town of Battagram. But, despite the help residents have
received and the fact that most families have been able to survive the
long, hard winter of the north, many remain pessimistic as to how they
will rebuild their lives. Of the 325,000 inhabitants of Battagram
district in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) at least
177,150 people were directly affected by the 8 October quake, which
killed over 80,000, devastated the local economy and rendered millions
homeless in the process.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51867&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Assessment report reveals far reaching damage to livelihoods

Shopkeepers, small businesses and farmers who have lost land and
livestock have been left most vulnerable by the 8 October earthquake in
northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, according to a
recent assessment report by the UK-based charity Save the Children. The
damage has had a knock-on affect on the region's poorest survivors -
farmers whose small plots of land do not yield enough produce to sustain
them throughout the year and so depend on shopkeepers for credit.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51897&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: NGO launches economic empowerment events ahead of Women's Day

An Islamabad-based civil society group, the Society for the Advancement
of Community, Health, Education and Training (SACHET), has launched a
series of events over the next two weeks to promote gender harmony and
empowerment through enhanced income generation opportunities for women.
"On the political front, over the past few years we have seen steadily
increasing awareness of the need to empower women," Ayesha Javed,
in-charge of SACHET's programme for poverty alleviation-cum-income
generation (PACIG), said in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, on
Thursday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51895&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: WHO satisfied with the level of preparedness against bird flu

The World Health Organization (WHO) has praised Pakistan's level of
preparedness against avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu. There
have been no reported cases of bird flu either in poultry or humans in
the South Asian country to date. "Pakistan has a good level of
preparedness, thanks to the presence of international level laboratories
on both the human and animal side, as well as a good surveillance system
for the rapid detection of and response to cases and outbreaks," Sacha
Bootsma, a WHO spokeswoman, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital,
Islamabad, on Friday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51894&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


TAJIKISTAN: Donors call on country to strengthen battle again HIV/AIDS

The number of HIV-infected people in Tajikistan could reach 10,000 by
the end of this year unless preventive measures were taken immediately,
members of the donor community warned on Wednesday. "Taking into account
the factors conducive to the spread of HIV infection, experts have
estimated that the number of HIV-infected people in the country may rise
from an estimated 4,000 cases in 2004 to 10,000 by the end of 2006. At
this rate the number of HIV-infected cases may double every 13 months,"
the statement said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=51870&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN


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Fax: +90 312 495 4166
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