DUBAI, 11 February (IRIN) - 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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… 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.

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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).

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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.

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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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