DUBAI, 19 August 2007 (IRIN) - CONTENTS: AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan deportees complain of lack of aid AFGHANISTAN: UN highlights conflict's impact on civilians NEPAL: Activists urge more government action on de-mining NEPAL: Flood victims face disease, food shortages

PAKISTAN: More dead as fresh rain hits southern provinces PAKISTAN: Tenants clamour for rights in quake-affected Allai SRI LANKA: Taking the long route home

AFGHANISTAN-IRAN: Afghan deportees complain of lack of aid

Two months after their forced deportation from Iran, Afghan citizen Mohammad Alim and his six-member family still have an unsettled life in Herat Province, western Afghanistan.

They live in a tent in Jami camp, about 5km northwest of Herat city, where his wife Amina, and sister Parween, spend many hours trying to give his three children aged 5-10 an education, as they do not go to school.

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AFGHANISTAN: UN highlights conflict's impact on civilians

Armed conflict in Afghanistan has not only caused hundreds of civilian deaths but has also had a negative impact on many aspects of people's lives, according to a senior UN official.

"Beyond civilian casualties, people have lost their houses, children have been deprived of education, livelihoods have been damaged, and displaced families face many problems," Walter Kalin, representative of the UN Secretary-General for the human rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs), told IRIN on 15 August.

Since April, over 1,060 civilians have died in armed conflicts between Taliban insurgents and Afghan security forces backed by international troops, according to a confidential report prepared by Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior.

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NEPAL: Activists urge more government action on de-mining

Anti-landmine activists are concerned at the slowness in clearing landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the country. Many civilians, including children, continue to be at risk, said Ban Landmines Campaign Nepal (NCBL) on 13 August.

"This is a very serious humanitarian issue… because it is mainly Nepalese civilians who are suffering," prominent landmine-ban activist Purna Shova Chitrakar told IRIN.

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NEPAL: Flood victims face disease, food shortages

Hundreds of families in the country's flood-hit mainly lowland areas adjacent to the border with India continue to suffer from displacement, food shortages and disease, said aid workers.

According to the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS), thousands of families are still unable to return home and are increasingly getting sick due to lack of food and proper shelter. Those suffering the most are children and the elderly.

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PAKISTAN: More dead as fresh rain hits southern provinces

At least 51 people have died in the past few days as further heavy rain battered Sindh Province, and more rain is forecast in Balochistan. At least a dozen homes have reportedly collapsed or been damaged, most of them in Karachi. Many others have been flooded.

The governments of Sindh and Balochistan have been put on alert for storms and heavy rain.

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PAKISTAN: Tenants clamour for rights in quake-affected Allai

Atiq Khan, 55, is having what could be his last cup of tea for a very long time with his friends at the bazaar in Bana, headquarters of the remote, mountainous Allai area in Batagram District, over 250km from Islamabad.

Atiq's sons, both in their 20s, have already left the area with their families and now Atiq too is planning to follow them.

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SRI LANKA: Taking the long route home

Joseph Ponnaraja, aged 22 and a father of three, does not have the faintest idea where he and his family, who have been displaced for just over a year, will finally end up living.

They fled their home in the eastern Sri Lankan coastal town of Muttur in Trincomalee District on 6 August 2006, when fighting broke out between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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