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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 62
4 - 10 March 2006


CONTENTS:

PAKISTAN: At least 26 die in land mine explosion in restive Balochistan
PAKISTAN: Quake survivors start the journey home
PAKISTAN: Landless quake survivors reluctant to return
PAKISTAN: WFP welcomes US $2 million quake contribution from Saudi Arabia
PAKISTAN: Five months on, quake relief moves to reconstruction
PAKISTAN: Marking International Women's Day in the earthquake zone
PAKISTAN: New eye care programme in quake zone
PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid
PAKISTAN: Raising awareness of bird flu
AFGHANISTAN: UN condemns murder of development worker
AFGHANISTAN: Former militia leaders surrender arms
AFGHANISTAN: Survey predicts rise in opium production in 2006
KYRGYZSTAN: South becoming regional departure point for traffickers
NEPAL: Red Cross resumes monitoring of army detainees
NEPAL: Preparing to tackle avian flu
NEPAL: Impact of the conflict on women
NEPAL: Concern at decision to launch army radio
UZBEKISTAN: Rights activist gets eight years in jail
UZBEKISTAN: Top opposition leader convicted, US NGO barred
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap


PAKISTAN: At least 26 die in land mine explosion in restive Balochistan

At least 26 people, mostly women and children, were killed as a trailer
carrying a wedding party hit an anti-tank mine on Friday morning in
Pakistan's restive southern province of Balochistan, according to
officials. "We know that 26 people died and seven were injured when the
tractor trolley carrying them hit at least one anti-tank mine at Rakhni
[about 300 km east of the provincial capital Quetta]. There were women
and children in the vehicle and we are trying to get details of how
many," Raziq Bugti, a spokesman for the Balochistan provincial
government, said from Quetta.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52128&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Quake survivors start the journey home

Ghulam Rabbani and his family are climbing aboard a battered
four-wheel-drive vehicle along with their possessions bound for their
home village of Sarli Sacha in Neelum Valley, almost 10 hours away by
road, northeast from Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered
Kashmir. The group are amongst 29 families - over 220 Internally
Displaced People (IDPs) - returning to their home villages and hamlets
from the Bela Noor Shah camp in Muzaffarabad after having spent five
months in the city following the 8 October earthquake.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52133&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Landless quake survivors reluctant to return

With emergency relief operations phasing out in earthquake-devastated
areas of northern Pakistan, many survivors living in camps in
Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, who lost their
homes and land, are uncertain about how they will cope. "We do not want
to go back. We have neither home nor land to return to. The quake
destroyed our house, while the subsequent landslides took away the small
plot of land that we had," Hussein, 22, from the village of Sandogh,
some 70 km northeast of Muzaffarabad, said.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52112&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: WFP welcomes US $2 million quake contribution from Saudi
Arabia

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed a US $2
million cash contribution from Saudi Arabia to help the survivors of the
massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit northern Pakistan last
October. "We are very grateful to Saudi Arabia. This donation will
enable us to assist the most vulnerable people for several months after
the emergency," Michael Jones, WFP country director for Pakistan, said
in the capital Islamabad on Wednesday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52113&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Five months on, quake relief moves to reconstruction

Marking five months on from the day the massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake
struck northern Pakistan, aid workers on Wednesday highlighted the
daunting road ahead as relief turns to reconstruction in quake-hit
communities as weather improves. "The major challenges include keeping
relief operations going until the end of this month, improving
sanitation, especially in the smaller camps, and preparing for the
return of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) on a voluntary and informed
basis," Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations Deputy Humanitarian
Coordinator in Pakistan said in the capital, Islamabad.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52095&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Marking International Women's Day in the earthquake zone

Half a dozen young women are discussing issues that concern them and
their families in a camp for quake survivors in Muzaffarabad, capital of
Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The women - members of a camp-based
committee established to empower women in the tented facilities across
the area - talk passionately in Urdu suggesting ways to tackle the
problems they are facing.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52097&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: New eye care programme in quake zone

As part of its earthquake relief efforts, the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) has started a programme to provide eye care to
quake-survivors in parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir. "The
Community Ophthalmology Initiative (COI), running till the end of April,
would focus on providing free cataract surgery to elderly quake
survivors aged 40 and above. To this end, eye assessments have been
started from this Monday and we'll start operating from Friday," Dr
Ihtasham-ul-Haq, coordinator of the COI, said in Muzaffarabad, capital
of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, where the pilot project was launched.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52061&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Afghan quake survivors missing out on aid

Hundreds of unregistered Afghan migrant workers living in Muzaffarabad,
the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, have not received aid
since the 8 October earthquake that killed over 80,000 people. "They
don't have identity cards so they are not eligible for aid from the
government," said Sarfraz Ahmed Abbas, coordinator for social welfare at
the Women's Development Department.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52034&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


PAKISTAN: Raising awareness of bird flu

Authorities in the Pakistani capital Islamabad are preparing to launch
an integrated public awareness campaign to ease growing fears about
avian flu. "The campaign's objectives for the present are to educate the
public and particularly those vulnerable groups directly involved in
handling poultry and related products about safe practices to prevent
any potential outbreak of bird flu," Tracey Wagner Rizvi, spokeswoman
for the Avian Influenza Health Education and Communication Committee,
said on Monday.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52040&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: UN condemns murder of development worker

The United Nations on Monday expressed shock at the murder of an Afghan
development worker who was killed on Saturday in the western Farah
province. Mohammad Hashim worked for the UN Human Settlements Programme
(UN-HABITAT) on the National Solidarity Programme (NSP. He was involved
in rebuilding villages in Farah province. He was on a monitoring visit
to project sites in the Bala Buluk district of Farah province when six
armed men stopped the vehicle he was travelling in, dragged him out and
shot him dead.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52062&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Former militia leaders surrender arms

Nine former militia leaders in Afghanistan's southern Ghazni province
have voluntarily surrendered over 40 mt of ammunition, as well as more
than 750 light and heavy weapons, to the Disbandment of Illegal Armed
Groups (DIAG) programme, officials from the UN-backed initiative said on
Monday in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52041&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


AFGHANISTAN: Survey predicts rise in opium production in 2006

A recent survey shows that Afghan farmers are planting more poppy this
year than in 2005, in what remains the world's biggest opium producing
country, the United Nations warned on Monday. A rapid assessment survey
of poppy production was carried out jointly by the Ministry of Counter
Narcotics (MCN) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes
(UNODC) in December 2005 and January 2006.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52042&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN


KYRGYZSTAN: South becoming regional departure point for traffickers

Human traffickers in the Ferghana Valley region are increasingly using
the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh as a departure point for ferrying
victims to destination countries, a local NGO working to stop
trafficking, said on Thursday. "Osh has already become a transit hub for
traffickers from neighbouring countries [Uzbekistan and Tajikistan],"
Sadykjan Makhmudov, head of the local NGO 'Luch Solomona', told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52109&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN


NEPAL: Red Cross resumes monitoring of army detainees

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has resumed visits
to detainees held inside Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) barracks after nearly
nine months. In May 2005, the ICRC halted monitoring missions to RNA
premises after the army allegedly failed to comply fully with agreements
governing the visits. Most of the detainees inside the barracks are
Maoists cadres and those suspected of supporting the rebels who have
been battling for more than a decade to overthrow the status quo in the
Himalayan kingdom. Some detainees are being held without trial for long
periods, rights groups say.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52111&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Preparing to tackle avian flu

There's pressure on the Nepali government to introduce more
comprehensive measures to tackle avian flu. Although the flu has yet to
be detected in Nepal, the virus is present in neighbouring India and
China. The Himalayan kingdom's long, porous borders with both countries
make keeping the virus at bay a challenge. In a new report on the virus,
the World Bank says the risk for Nepal remains high as it has not been
able to reach full agreement with India and China on border quarantine
measures.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52092&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Impact of the conflict on women

The United Nations in Nepal said it is concerned at how women are
suffering from the Maoist insurgency that has flared up again following
a four-month ceasefire. "In the past few weeks, women have been beaten
to death, shot at, blown up by landmines and abducted across the
country," said Mathew Kahane, UN Resident Representative and
Humanitarian Coordinator in Nepal, on the occasion of International
Women's Day.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52096&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


NEPAL: Concern at decision to launch army radio

A decision by the Nepali government to allow the Royal Nepalese Army
(RNA) to launch its own FM radio network throughout the Himalayan
kingdom has caused concern among local journalists and press freedom
activists. They say it's another nail in the coffin of free media in the
country. The RNA plans to set up 10 mobile FM radio stations with one
based in the capital Kathmandu, disseminating information and message
about military activities. The army has embarked on new offensives since
Maoist rebels ended their unilateral ceasefire at the start of 2006.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52044&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=NEPAL


UZBEKISTAN: Rights activist gets eight years in jail

A prominent Uzbek human rights activist has been sentenced to eight
years in prison after being found guilty of "anti-government activity
and receiving money from Western governments to disrupt public order", a
lawyer for the activist said on Tuesday. Mutabar Tojibayeva, head of the
unregistered Ardent Hearts group in the eastern city of Fergana and a
critic of the government, was convicted on Monday after a trial that was
described by US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) as "puppet theatre" that
violated international standards on due legal process.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52056&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


UZBEKISTAN: Top opposition leader convicted, US NGO barred

An Uzbek court convicted top opposition leader Sanjar Umarov to more
than 10 years in prison on Monday for economic crimes at a trial in the
capital denounced by rights groups and the opposition as being
politically motivated. At the same time, another Uzbek court ruled that
a US-based NGO, Freedom House, must close its doors and leave the
Central Asian country.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52032&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN


CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) high
commissioner on national minorities, Rolf Ekeus, visited Turkmenistan
for three days this week. He was there to encourage improved treatment
of the country's minorities while. International rights groups have long
complained about discrimination by Turkmen President Saparmurat
Niyazov's administration. Ekeus raised complaints about development of
the official language and the protection of minority languages. Critics
said that Turkmen authorities prevented Ekeus from seeing the real
situation of ethnic minorities through selective access to those groups
and their representatives, RFE/RL reported.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=52137&SelectRegion=Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA


IRIN-Asia
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