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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 110
5 - 11 February 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Civil society fights immunity for warlords
AFGHANISTAN: Thousands of displaced need urgent assistance - local
   officials
KYRGYZSTAN: Concerns over earthquake preparedness
NEPAL: Background of the Terai's Madhesi people
NEPAL: Calm returns to restive southeast
NEPAL: Call for peaceful protests - UN
PAKISTAN: Government plays down bird flu risk
PAKISTAN: Fighting disinformation in polio campaign
PAKISTAN: Mining of Afghan border put off, but fencing to go ahead
PAKISTAN: Four refugee camps slated for closure
TURKMENISTAN: Election pledges raise hope of change
TURKMENISTAN: New leaders open to contacts with international
   community


AFGHANISTAN: Civil society fights immunity for warlords

An association of 58 civil society and rights groups in Afghanistan has
started campaigning against a controversial bill that would grant immunity
for all those who committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

On 31 January, the 249-seat lower house (Wolesi Jirga) of Afghanistan's
National Assembly approved a bill granting immunity to all those who
committed war crimes during the Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989; the
civil war that followed until 1996; and during the Taliban rule until late
2001.

The bill needs to be endorsed by the parliament's upper house.
Parliamentarians who supported the bill said the move would boost
reconciliation in the country. Others believe the draft was voted for
because the lower house is dominated by former warlords and communist
officials who allegedly have blood on their hands.


AFGHANISTAN: Thousands of displaced need urgent assistance - local
officials

Some 8,000 people have fled their homes in southern Afghanistan fearing
anticipated NATO attacks on suspected Taliban insurgents there. Many
residents who left the Musa Qala district in the southern Helmand province
over the past three days need urgent assistance, local officials reported
on Monday.

Taliban insurgents allegedly overran the district last week. British
forces left Musa Qala in October last year after elders and the Helmand
provincial governor struck a deal that turned over security to local
leaders and prevented NATO forces from entering the town.


KYRGYZSTAN: Concerns over earthquake preparedness

Concerns have been raised over Kyrgyzstan's ability to deal with the
aftermath of an anticipated massive earthquake following four quakes in
the Central Asian state in the space of a month. Kyrgyzstan is located in
a seismically active part of Central Asia and overall there are some 3,000
tremors in the country annually, according to the Kyrgyz emergencies
ministry.

In 2005 alone, there were some 30 tremors measuring over three on the
Richter scale.


NEPAL: Background of the Terai's Madhesi people

The flat southern region of Nepal - the Terai - is home to the Madhesi
people. The Terai stretches from the east to the west of the country along
the Nepalese-Indian border. It comprises nearly 17 percent of the
country's land and the Madhesi people make up about 30 percent of the 27
million people in Nepal.

The Madhesi are predominantly Hindus with some Muslims, Buddhists and
Christians. They feel they have been neglected by successive Nepalese
governments over education, health access, economic activities and
development programmes. As such, they demand better rights.


NEPAL: Calm returns to restive southeast

Life is returning to normal in the plains of central and eastern Nepal
after three weeks of violence, the BBC reported on 9 January. At least 27
people died in clashes between Madhesi protesters and security forces in
the Himalayan kingdom. Calm returned after the head of a leading Madhesi
group welcomed the prime minister's call for dialogue and suspended its
protests.

Madheshi groups say they have been discriminated against in the existing
state structure. Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has vowed to amend
the constitution to meet the key demands of Madhesi protesters. He pledged
a federal system of governance and more representation of the southern
plains in the parliament.

Schools and colleges reopened, businesses resumed activities and traffic
was back on the roads in the affected region on Friday.


NEPAL: Call for peaceful protests - UN

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, has
called for organisers of demonstrations in southern Nepal to hold peaceful
protests, following clashes between them and police resulting in at least
27 deaths.

Arbour said the government must "abide by international human rights
obligations in dealing with the demonstrations=A6 and hold police
accountable", a statement issued on 7 February said. The statement also
called for free access to be given to aid workers and medical staff trying
to assist the needy in the region.


PAKISTAN: Government plays down bird flu risk

Pakistani authorities on 8 January expressed confidence in their efforts
to reduce the risks of further outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird
flu, after two separate incidents at poultry farms in the north. Pakistani
authorities destroyed a small poultry flock with the H5N1 strain of avian
influenza in Rawalpindi, close to the capital, on 3 February.

In a separate incident on 4 February in the Mansehra district of
Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, 20 peacocks were culled after
testing positive for the virus. According to specialists, winter and
spring seasons, with their low and mild temperatures, are favourable for
the breeding and spread of the virus.


PAKISTAN: Fighting disinformation in polio campaign

Aid agencies are fighting ignorance and suspicion in a polio campaign in
the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan's most conservative
province. Health officials say that people in NWFP refuse polio drops for
a variety of reasons. These include believing the polio campaign is part
of an agenda against Islam or believing that the drops could lead to
infertility and are thus intended as a secret form of birth control.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria are the world's four
polio-endemic countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).


PAKISTAN: Mining of Afghan border put off, but fencing to go ahead

Visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Mahmud Kasuri said in Berlin
that his country would put off a plan to lay land mines along its 2,600km
border with Afghanistan, Reuters reported on 9 February. But Islamabad
will still build a fence along portions of its boundary with Afghanistan,
he added.

Pakistan recently announced it would implement its plan to partially fence
and mine its border with Afghanistan as a measure to stop militants from
going back and forth between Afghanistan from Pakistan. Afghanistan has
consistently objected to such plans.


PAKISTAN: Four refugee camps to close

Four Afghan refugee camps will be closed in Pakistan in 2007, the office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a
statement issued on 7 February. The camps, two in the southern Balochistan
province and another two in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
together house 230,000 refugees.

Afghans living in the settlements will be given two options, voluntary
repatriation to their homeland or those who cannot return immediately will
be given the chance to be relocated to another camp in the country.

The registration of Afghans living in the country is currently underway
and has so far reached a figure of 2.1 million. In order to help Afghans
return, the voluntary repatriation package is being doubled to US $60 per
person.


TURKMENISTAN: Election pledges raise hope of change

As Turkmens go to the polls on 11 February to vote in their first
presidential elections in 15 years, many are hoping for much-needed health
and education reforms. Most presidential candidates acknowledge that
something needs to be done about the parlous state of Turkmenistan's
health and education systems, which suffered years of decline under
President Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in December.

Turkmenistan is among 50 countries with the highest under-five mortality
rates in the world, according to the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF). Under Niyazov, basic education was cut to nine years, and
university degrees to two. Access to higher education was restricted by a
pre-university work experience requirement and enrolment declined from
40,000 in the 1990s to 3,000 in 2004.


TURKMENISTAN: New leaders open to contacts with international community

An official from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE) said on 10 January, one day ahead of the presidential polls in
Turkmenistan, that the country's new leadership was keen to reinforce
contacts with the international community.

Goran Lennmarker, president of the parliamentary assembly in OSCE, said
his meetings with parliamentary leaders and Turkmen Foreign Minister
Rashid Meredov showed the ex-Soviet republic was opening up.

"We got a very positive response from everyone, from the foreign affairs
minister, so I guess they are in the mood now when they want to intensify
their international cooperation," Lennmarker told reporters. Turkmenistan
is one of the most reclusive states in the world, with virtually every
part of life controlled by the government.


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