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80,000 people affected, 450 houses destroyed in Swabi flood: OCHA

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Aug 18(ANI): The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that at least 70,000 to 80,000 people have been affected in Swabi by the floods and about 450 houses have been destroyed apart from the major losses to crops and livestock

In a statement issued in Islamabad, it said that stored grains had been swept away by the floods, which might lead to food insecurity in the flood-affected regions of Ismaila, Kalu Khan and Adina, The Dawn reports.

“Majority of the deaths occurred due to the collapse of roofs in mud houses. Concrete houses were mostly unaffected. Valuables in homes were completely swept away,” the statement said.

It also stated that traffic between Swabi and Mardan had been completely cut off, as several bridges were washed. Communication system has been damaged in Mardan district.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also set up three medical camps in Mardan, while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) would send 500 tents for distribution in flood affected areas. (ANI)

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Nepal wants UN peacekeeping mission to end

April 20, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

Kathmandu – Nepalese prime minister has hinted that the term of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) may not be extended beyond July, newspaper reports said Sunday.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal told visiting British Under Secretary of State for Defence Kevan Jones that Nepal intended to complete the reintegration of the Maoist combatants by July, and that UNMIN would no longer be needed, the Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

“We have set a time table to complete the integration before the expiry of the UNMIN’s current mandate on 23 July”, the newspaper quoted the prime minister’s foreign affairs advisor Hira Bahadur Thapa as saying in relations to Jones’ query on the future of UNMIN.

Dahal said the government’s special committee for supervision, integration and rehabilitation of the combatants is determined to complete its job by mid-July.

“If things work as planned, we will be in a situation to discharge UNMIN by that time,” the newspaper quoted Thapa saying.

UNMIN came to Nepal in January 2007 on a one-year term after the Nepalese government signed peace with Maoist rebels to end the decade-long insurgency in the Himalayan nation.

The mission has been extended three times on a 6-month basis. Also up for renewal is the tenure of United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Nepal, which expires in June.

The office was established in 2005 during the King Gyanendra’s absolute rule, during the height of the conflict.

Nearly 20,000 of the original 32,000 Maoist combatants passed two phases of verification process by UNMIN in 2007.

The former combatants who passed the verification process now qualify for integration into the country’s armed forces. However, differences between political parties have stalled the integration process. (dpa)

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UN condemns murder of Afghan legislator by Taliban

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kabul – The United Nations office in Afghanistan Monday condemned the assassination of a woman provincial legislator in southern Afghanistan by Taliban militants. Sitara Achikzai, who was aged in her 50s, was shot dead Sunday afternoon by Taliban fighters riding on motorbikes outside her home in Kandahar city, the capital of Kandahar province.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan “condemns in the strongest possible terms the vicious and deliberate killing of the provincial legislator Sitara Achikzai,” Nilab Mubarez, a UN spokeswoman told a press conference Monday.

“Those responsible for this callous act have clearly shown their disrespect for the true Afghan traditions and there is no justification for such a cowardly act,” she said.

“Achikzai was a committed and brave woman who served in her country without fear in one of the most volatile areas of Afghanistan,” Mubarez added.

A dual Afghan-German citizen, Achikzai spent years in exile in Germany with her family and returned to Afghanistan following the ouster of the Taliban’s ultra-Islamic regime in late 2001.

Achikzai and her husband, a doctor and university lecturer, came back to Afghanistan to work in Kandahar province, while their son and daughter live in Germany.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack and said “the enemies of Afghan people should know that they can not stop the process of peace and stability in the country by killing of those who truly serve this country and want it to stand on its own feet.”

Karzai ordered the security forces in Kandahar province to arrest the assailants and bring them to justice.

Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi took responsibility for the attack, saying their fighters killed Achikzai while she was returning to her home in Mullah Alam Akhan area of Kandahar city.

Ahmadi did not give any reason for the assassination.

The Taliban had banned women from going to schools or to work outside their homes when they ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to late 2001.

Taliban militants were responsible for the murder of a top female police officer in Kandahar province last year and were also blamed for the assassination of the head of the provincial women’s affairs department in Kandahar city in 2006. (dpa)

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Tibetan women in exile to continue their “Free Tibet” fight

March 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dharamsala, Mar 12 (ANI): Hundreds of Tibetan women in exile marked 50 years of their failed uprising against the Chinese on Thursday (March 12) by resolving to continue their “Free Tibet” fight and return to their homeland.

Women of regional Tibetan women’s association (RTWA), schoolgirls and Buddhist monks commemorated the National Tibetan Women’s uprising day by staging a protest march while raising slogans and holding banners against the Chinese Government.

“Its a very important for me and all Tibetan particularly Tibetan women who have so far suffered a lot in exile and even women inside Tibet, for not having freedom, freedom to express, freedom to start and promote our religious and cultural integrity,” said Dolma, a Tibetan woman refuge.

Every year on the 12th of March Tibetan women in exile mark their contribution to the freedom movement.

Tibetan exiles staged demonstration outside United Nations office in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum demanding seizure of untoward activities on women in Lhasa.

“Today is 12th March and today is Tibetan women’s uprising day. In 1959 on 12th March, thousands of Tibetan women protested peacefully outside the Portola palace and today we protested here outside United Nations, to appeal to the United Nations to talk to communist China to immediately seize the violent action against Tibetan women such as assault, torture, rape, unlawful detentions, and government sanctions act for violence against Tibetan women,” said Tenzin, one of the organisers of the protest.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Tibetan Women’s Association said that even a year after the peaceful 2008 uprising in Tibet, over six thousand Tibetans were still imprisoned and over four thousand were missing. Two hundred people died during the military clampdown.

On March 10, 1959, Chinese authorities quashed an uprising led by the Dalai Lama, which forced him – and many Buddhist men and women – to flee Tibet.

The Dalai Lama marked his 50 years in exile on Tuesday (March 10) by demanding “meaningful autonomy” for his Tibetan homeland, where Chinese authorities tightened security to stifle protests against their rule.

Tibet, and ethnic Tibetan areas in neighbouring provinces of China, are under a security clampdown aimed at stifling protest against Chinese rule.

Tibetans across the globe are marking this week with anti-China protests, demonstrations, photo exhibitions and book launches to look back at 50 years of their failed uprising and ponder over the future course of action. (ANI)

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Women separatists stage protest in Kashmir

March 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Mar 8 (ANI): In the leadership of Muslim Khawateen Markaz (MKM) Chairman Zamrooda Habib, women activists of separatist groups took to the streets here on Sunday.

Hundreds of women under the aegis of Muslim Khawateen Markaz, and took out a protest march towards the United Nations office here.

The protesters said they were protesting to draw the attention of the international community to solve the Kashmir dispute.

“We are celebrating the Women’s Day and asking the international community how many more widows? How many more orphans? How long? They have to come forward to solve the Kashmir problem without a delay. Today we are registering our protest and we are calling this Women’s Day as Widow’s Day, Human Rights Violation Day, Orphans’ Day and Illegal Detention Day,” said Zamrooda Habib, Chairman, Muslim Khawateen Markaz.

However, the protestors were stopped by the police from proceeding ahead. Many among them also courted arrest. (ANI)

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Separatist organisation demands UN intervention on Kashmir dispute

February 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, ANI (National): A Kashmir separatist outfit- Democratic Political Movement (DPM) on Saturday took out a march to the United Nations office here, seeking its help to end the Kashmir dispute.

DPM chairman Firdous Ahmed said the protesters wanted to submit a memorandum to the UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon to pressurize the Indian Government to speed up a solution of Kashmir issue.

“There are several youths languishing in jails and their trials are not conducted in courts. Thus we staged this demonstration and wish to make an appeal to the United Nations. We want to urge the UN’s secretary to pressurize Indian government to fasten the process of finding a solution of Kashmir issue,” Ahmed said.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence over the disputed area of Kashmir.

New Delhi has put a pause on that dialogue after last November’s Mumbai attacks, in which 179 people were killed. (ANI)

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