U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 113
26 February - 04 March 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: President pressured to sign controversial amnesty bill
AFGHANISTAN: Gov't steps up fight against bird flu
AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan refugees given repatriation extension
AFGHANISTAN: Gov't bid to boost police in south
AFGHANISTAN: Girls miss out on full education
AFGHANISTAN: Economy, violence hit prospects for youth
AFGHANISTAN: Child forced marriages still a common tradition
KYRGYZSTAN: Youth poverty fuels radicalism
NEPAL: Maoists return to camps demanding better living conditions
NEPAL: Bhutanese refugees and locals clash over resources
NEPAL: Maoists and Madhesi activists clash in Terai
PAKISTAN: Religious leaders fight vaccine propaganda
PAKISTAN: Quake trauma could haunt children forever
PAKISTAN: Young Afghans reluctant to go home
PAKISTAN: Young people caught in an extremist web
PAKISTAN: Wealth gap blamed for surge in crime
PAKISTAN: No help for addicted women


AFGHANISTAN: President pressured to sign controversial amnesty bill

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is under pressure to sign a controversial 
amnesty bill approved by the country's national assembly last week. The 
bill provides sweeping immunity for those guilty of war crimes committed 
over the past two and a half decades of conflict in the country.

The 49-year-old Afghan leader had earlier decided not to sign the bill, 
but pressure for him to sign the document into law has been steadily 
rising. Around 80,000 civilians were killed in Kabul alone during the 
internal fighting between various Mujahideen groups in the 1990s after 
the Soviets pulled out of the country in 1989. Many others were 
kidnapped, mutilated or raped between 1992 and 1996 as the country 
plunged into a chaotic civil war.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70405


AFGHANISTAN: Gov't steps up fight against bird flu

The Afghan government confirmed on 24 February four cases of the H5N1 
virus in chickens in the two eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, 
both bordering Pakistan. But mitigating the risks of a possible outbreak 
of bird flu in Afghanistan poses a challenge. In the quarantined areas 
of Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, where the virus was detected, hundreds 
of domestic birds were culled by MAIL workers and "owners duly 
compensated".

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70454


AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan refugees given repatriation extension

A voluntary repatriation programme for thousands of Afghan refugees to 
return to their home country from Iran has been extended for another 
year following a meeting by the governments of Iran and Afghanistan and 
the United Nations refugees agency on 27 February. An accord has been 
extended until 19 March 2008, officials at the office of the UN High 
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tehran told IRIN on 28 February.

Hosting around 915,000 Afghan refugees and 54,000 Iraqi refugees, Iran 
has the second largest refugee population in the world after Pakistan. 
While the repatriation drive has been extended for another year, most 
Afghans in Iran are reluctant to return.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70450


AFGHANISTAN: Gov't bid to boost police in south

Despite the resurgence of pro-Taliban forces in the area, there has been 
little commensurate increase in security forces. Funding and support for 
the Afghan national police and the army are being stepped up only now, 
while an increase in the deployment of international forces has been 
incremental. The Afghan national army has experienced high rates of 
desertion and it has only half the force of 70,000 it was expected to 
reach by 2010. As a result, police in the volatile south have no choice 
but to take on anti-insurgency duties, which prompted the government to 
set up an auxiliary force.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70504


AFGHANISTAN: Girls miss out on full education

Eighteen-year-old Diba is from northeastern Kunduz province, where she 
could be in her first year of high-school. Instead, her father has 
forced her to stop her education. Diba is one of thousands of young 
Afghan girls who are deprived of a full education in Afghanistan. There 
are many reasons why families do not allow their daughters to continue 
their education after finishing secondary school: some are concerned 
about security, but some girls are forced to leave school due to 
discriminatory traditions, or because they are married off by their 
families.

A recent report by the international NGO, OXFAM, says more than 110,000 
girls attended secondary schools last year, but just one third of those 
went on to complete their education.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69986


AFGHANISTAN: Economy, violence hit prospects for youth

Poverty, a war-shattered infrastructure and poor security are preventing 
millions of young Afghans from having an education or paid work, 
officials and aid groups have said. Poverty recently forced Mohammed 
Sayed, 16, to quit his studies in the seventh grade of Mahmood Hotaki 
high school, in Kabul city; he now works repairing tyres in a tiny 
workshop. He is just one of millions of poverty-stricken children and 
youth, missing out on an education in the central Asian state where 
nearly half of the 25 million population lives below the poverty line; 
the official unemployment rate is 35 percent.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69985


AFGHANISTAN: Child forced marriages still a common tradition

In Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital of Afghanistan's northern 
Balkh province, 17-year-old Humaira Taiba is considering committing 
suicide. She is trying to terminate the engagement arranged by her 
grandfather when she was just 1 month old. Despite some progress in 
women's rights such as guaranteeing equal rights for both men and women 
in the new constitution, the day-to-day life of women has changed 
little.

Forced marriages and child marriages still continue and lead some women 
to escape their fate by choosing self-immolation. Many girls are married 
off before the legal age for different reasons; sometimes to end a 
dispute or to earn money. According to United Nations Children Fund 
(UNICEF), 57 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the 
legal age of 16.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=69984


KYRGYZSTAN: Youth poverty fuels radicalism

Central Asia's densely populated Ferghana Valley, shared by Kyrgyzstan, 
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has long been considered a potential hotbed 
of religious extremism. The fact that the majority of the impoverished 
region's 10 million inhabitants are young with little to do and no job 
prospects, only fuels existing radicalism and criminality. Local NGOs 
say that missionaries from radical religious organisations, drug barons 
and various criminal groups are preying on young poor people, while 
chronic unemployment and galloping poverty, along with sharp income 
disparities, are paving the way to radicalism.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70010


NEPAL: Maoists return to camps demanding better living conditions

More than 2,000 fighters, including 150 women, fled their camp in the 
cantonment of Chitwan, 300km south of the capital, Kathmandu, last week 
in protest at the government's neglect. They sought food and shelter in 
nearby villages. Ravi, a young Maoist soldier, was so desperate to leave 
the camp where he had been confined for the past two months that he ran 
away. He was one of more than 2,000 fighters, including 150 women, who 
fled their camp in the cantonment of Chitwan, 300km south of the 
capital, Kathmandu, last week in protest at the government's neglect. 
They sought food and shelter in nearby villages.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70410


NEPAL: Bhutanese refugees and locals clash over resources

Bhutanese refugees in Nepal are concerned over their security after 
violent clashes involving refugees and the local community took place 
for the first time in 16 years. Bhutanese refugees in Nepal are 
concerned over their security after clashes involving refugees and the 
local community. One refugee was killed and several others were badly 
injured. The locals called for an indefinite strike, demanding that the 
authorities close the refugee camp and refugees no longer "encroach" on 
their forest.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70432


NEPAL: Maoists and Madhesi activists clash in Terai

At least two civilians were killed on 27 Ferbruary in street clashes 
between supporters of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPNM) and the 
Madhesi People's Rights Forum (MPRF) in the western part of the Terai 
region of Nepal. A 14-year-old, Khohade Kori, was killed during the 
latest violence in Nepalgunj, the largest city in southwest Nepal. 
Another civilian, 55-year old Kohle Kori, also died. Surya Dev Ojha, an 
MPRF leader in Nepalgunj, told IRIN that the party blamed the Maoists 
for the death of the student and demanded protection from local 
authorities.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70464


PAKISTAN: Religious leaders fight vaccine propaganda

Muslim and community leaders are seeking to counter the disinformation 
surrounding polio vaccinations in parts of Pakistan's North West 
Frontier Province (NWFP) and tribal areas. The move followed a three-day 
vaccination campaign supported by UNICEF and the World Health 
Organization (WHO) targeting 14.5 million children in 49 high-risk 
districts. Polio immunisation refusals have been an issue in NWFP and 
tribal areas close to the Afghan border, fuelled by misconceptions about 
the effects of the drops - that they could lead to infertility and form 
part an anti-Islam agenda. During the January 2007 polio immunisation 
campaign, 24,000 refusals were reported in NWFP.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70421


PAKISTAN: Quake trauma could haunt children forever

Thousands of children who survived the October 2005 earthquake in 
northern Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir may suffer from 
trauma for the rest of their lives, specialists say. Shaheen Mir's son 
is one of tens of thousands of children still recovering after a 
7.6-magnitude earthquake ravaged the area on 8 October 2005, killing 
more than 80,000 people and leaving millions of others maimed, injured, 
or homeless. According to Zahida Manzoor, a UNICEF child protection 
officer in Muzaffarabad, in the initial phase, up to 60 percent of 
children in the area that UNICEF saw were found to be suffering from 
stress and trauma caused by the quake.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70444


PAKISTAN: Young Afghans reluctant to go home

Young Afghans living in Pakistan are reluctant to return to their home 
country as required by a new order from the Pakistani government. More 
than 2.1 million Afghans have been registered by Pakistani authorities 
in a four-month countrywide campaign that ended on 15 February 2007. 
More than 75 percent of them are younger than 30, mostly born during 
their parents' exile, the exercise revealed. Since the registration 
process, Pakistani authorities have announced that all Afghans will have 
to be repatriated by the end of 2009.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70505


PAKISTAN: Young people caught in an extremist web

An increasing number of young people in Pakistan, to the dismay of their 
Westernised parents, are turning to extremist Islamic groups and 
identifying with the often violent causes they promote. Many young 
people across the country are being drawn into these groups, lured by 
the promise of an identity, and revenge for the attacks that the West 
has carried out on Muslim and Middle East countries.

The rise in the number of young people joining extremist organisations 
has traditionally been spurred by a high unemployment rate and a lack of 
job prospects for those from an underprivileged background. However, the 
reasons for adopting extremist ideologies is spreading across class, 
ethnicity and educational borders, leading to a conclusion which for the 
time being cannot be predicted.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70035


PAKISTAN: Wealth gap blamed for surge in crime

The crime rate in Pakistan's port city of Karachi has increased rapidly 
in recent years. Car and cellphone theft are among the most common 
crimes committed. According to the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee 
(CPLC), cellphone theft rose 60 percent in 2006, and car thefts rose 
nearly 18 percent in the same period. These crimes are committed by 
young offenders. This rise in crime is being blamed on the increasing 
gap between rich and poor. According to the latest figures from 
Pakistan's Ministry of Youth Affairs, 36 percent of the country's youth 
(15-29 years) live in urban areas. The literacy rate is just 49 percent.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70036


PAKISTAN: No help for addicted women

Aasia does not fit the image of a typical drug addict. She does not come 
from a disadvantaged or troubled background, she is not male, and she is 
not unemployed. Aasia is among the rising number of young women in the 
country addicted to drugs. Official figures suggest that just three 
percent of Pakistan's four million drug addicts are women; however, many 
believe the actual figure is much higher.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70033


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