Staff Report
QUETTA: The seventh Muharram rally marched peacefully to its destination in the provincial capital on Saturday.
The rally set out from the Khalah imambargah and passed through Archer Road, Art School Road, Liaqat Bazar, Mccongy Road, Mir Ahmed Khan Road and ended on Prince Road.
Strict security arrangements had been made by the government, which had deploy over 5,000 personnel of law enforcement agencies and paramilitary troops. Personnel of police, Frontier Corps and the Anti-Terrorism Force were deployed along the route of the procession. All roads, streets, and shops leading to the procession were sealed with barbed wires. Journalists were issued special passes for coverage.
This year, tough security measures were arranged by law enforcement agencies with the cooperation of volunteers from the Jaloos Management committee. The number of participants was observed to be large.
Daily Times
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Profiles in Politics: Azra Jafari of Afghanistan
Posted on September 29, 2011 by Administrator
- By Hanna Trudo
It’s not just her gender – a woman in male-everything Afghanistan – or her role as the country’s first female mayor that makes Azra Jafari revolutionary.
Jafari, who was a refugee in Iran for several years to escape the Taliban’s Islamist fist, returned to Afghanistan in 2001 when the country was in need of parliamentary strength post-U.S. invasion.
Many women who fled from Afghanistan during Taliban control stayed in neighboring Pakistan and Iran for education and work opportunities. But Jafari, the daughter of Afghan refugee parents born in 1978, sought to impact the poor province of Dai Kundi, and was named mayor of Nili, the capital, in 2008 by President Hamid Karzai.
Jafari left her former roles in teaching, editing, and welfare rights activism to join a government that was, and still is, unused to a mother filling a traditionally-male mayor’s seat.
Two years after the Taliban took control of the Afghan government in 1996, Jafari became the Editor-in-Chief of Farhang Magazine, a social and cultural publication in Iran in 1998. She also created an elementary school for Afghan refugees in Iran during her seven-year commitment to the Refugees’ Cultural Centre as Officer in Charge.
In 2001, Jafari joined the Emergency Loya Jirga in Kabul – the consultative council that dates back three centuries – where she organized a seminar for female members and participated in the election process that ultimately led to President Karzai becoming the new leader of Afghanistan.
The following year, Jafari’s activist instincts led her to a one-year stint as the Deputy Director of the Equal Rights Association, based in Kabul, before she enrolled in the Institute of Health Science. In 2007, Jafari graduated with a concentration of midwifery.
Before President Karzai declared Jafari the country’s first female mayor, she headed the gender and rights division of Armanshahr/OPEN ASIA, an independent, non-governmental organization that focuses on peace building, women’s empowerment, and human rights in Middle Asia. On Thursday last week, she was awarded the Meeto Memorial Award at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts for her work and commitment to social development.
Just two weeks into her role as mayor in January 2009, Jafari worried that conditions for women had worsened, and that Afghanistan wasn’t ready for a woman to work alongside men in the government.
Jafari told Reuters, “Unfortunately, Afghan society has not yet become a society which can accept that women are able to do this job, like any other person.”
But female-political opposition in Afghanistan didn’t deter Jafari in her new role. As mayor, she commutes, twice a month for two days, from Nili to Kabul across danger zones to get the job done.
Surveying the government transition time from 2002 to 2004, before President Karzai came into more permanent power, Jafari said women were in a better place then, according to Reuters.
“Unfortunately, day by day, the position of women fades… We had three or four women ministers during the interim government period, now we have one. President Karzai himself wants to see women progress and wants to seem them strengthen as part of a democracy, but Afghanistan is a male-dominated society,” Jafari said.
The risks involved with being a female government official in a male-centric land are real, but Jafari continues to work valiantly to combat poverty in Dai Kundi. Her efforts are fueled by the desire to make a difference in the disenfranchised community because she is a citizen and activist, not because she is a woman.
Diplomatic Courier's Blog
2.6 million Afghans at risk of hunger from drought
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press –
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) — Zara, an Afghan mother of seven, doesn't know what to tell her children when they ask about dinner.
"I simply tell them that we must wait until their father gets home to see if he's going to bring anything," she said, speaking from under a dusty blue burqa covering her from head to toe.
Zara, who uses just one name, is one of an estimated 2.6 million Afghans facing food shortages after one of the worst droughts to strike northern Afghanistan in a decade, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies. Already living in poverty in a country at war, many have been left destitute by the drought, which has affected 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces — all in the north.
Wells have dried up. Hundreds of children have been treated for malnutrition. Families are selling their animals at below-market prices. People are moving to cities to try to find food, water, work and, in some cases, a refuge from the fighting.
The Afghan government and aid agencies are racing to help them before snow blocks access to remote areas.
Rahmatullah Zahid, disaster coordinator in Balkh province, which has been hard-hit by the drought, said he is not worried yet about people starving to death, but he wonders how people will survive the winter, especially in remote areas.
"If the weather gets very, very cold in the remote areas and if the aid doesn't come, those families will be in danger of starvation," he said.
Beyond the relief effort, aid officials are trying to figure out how to end a vicious cycle of drought, drought relief and drought again in an area of the country that has suffered water and food shortages in eight of the past 11 years. Instead of trying to cultivate chronically dry land, perhaps farmers could grow almonds or grapes, which require less water than wheat, or industry could be lured to the area to extract its prevalent gas and oil.
Zara and her family moved to Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, so her husband, whose crops dried up, might find work as a day laborer.
She and hundreds of others who fled the rugged Alburz Mountains in the province gathered last week in a dirt lot in Mazar-e-Sharif to receive large canvas bags of kitchen supplies, blankets, lamps and other items, including a phone card. The aid was distributed by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"We have very little food," Zara said, squatting next to her aid bag. "If my husband finds work, he can buy some breads and vegetables on his way home, but otherwise there is nothing."
As she spoke, a light mist began to fall. The rain came too late. The crops were ruined months ago.
"There was no rain so everything was burned up," said Mir Ahmad, a 58-year-old wheat farmer who also moved to Mazar-e-Sharif from the mountains.
"There is not much work here in the city right now," he said, fingering a strand of yellow prayer beads as the large blue bags were unloaded from a truck. "Some days there is nothing and I have to borrow food or money to feed my family."
The U.N. issued an appeal for $142 million on Oct. 1 to help those hit by the drought in 14 northern provinces, where up to 80 percent of non-irrigated fields yielded little to no crops. So far, about $49 million has been pledged by aid groups, the U.S. and European nations.
The Afghan government also is distributing about 40,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, 10,000 tons of wheat seed and 20,000 tons of animal feed.
Sayed Anwar Rahmati, the governor of neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, said more aid is needed.
"Every day people are coming and complaining," he said. "The crops were lost and the cattle were seriously affected."
Zainab Noori, a member of the local council in nearby Bamiyan province, said people in six districts were waiting for aid.
"If the aid is not delivered in the next month, the road will be blocked by snow," she said. "At least 50 families have left already to go to Kabul and Iran to find work."
Aidan O'Leary, head of the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said repeated droughts in northern Afghanistan suggest that economic development is needed in addition to drought relief.
"What you're dealing with here is basically trying to maintain a rural, agrarian lifestyle in a climate that might not be conducive," O'Leary said. "What's the solution? Are you looking at better seeds? ... Are you looking at alternative crops? Are you looking at alternative livelihoods?"
With the international focus on pulling troops from Afghanistan, it's difficult to get nations sending development aid to discuss long-term solutions that would end the need for drought relief in the north every couple of years, he said. Compounding the problem is that while international aid has been flowing into Afghanistan for years, only a fraction has been targeted to reducing poverty, he said.
O'Leary noted a World Bank report this month that said the expected decline in international aid will have only a modest impact on the poor. The report said the majority of aid was spent to improve security and governance mostly in more urban areas where there is less poverty.
Ironically, it rained both days last week that O'Leary traveled to the north to check on drought aid with Michael Keating, deputy special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Afghanistan with responsibility for relief, recovery and reconstruction. The first day it sprinkled. The second day it poured. Muddy water filled deep ruts in unpaved roads in Dawlat Abad district.
Keating and O'Leary tried to visit a nearby village, but one of the heavily armored U.N. vehicles in their convoy got stuck. They left the vehicle, turned around and drove on better roads to their next stop: a medical center where children are being treated for acute malnutrition.
The number of cases of malnutrition treated at the clinic increased threefold after the drought, said Dr. Said Mahmood Shah, nutrition coordinator for Save the Children. In the summer months, up to 90 malnourished children showed up at the center where a tiny office was crowded with cardboard boxes of eeZee Paste Nut, a peanut butter-like food with high energy, proteins and nutrients.
Now, rain, snow and poor roads have prevented some children from getting help, Shah said. "There are lots of cases, but they can't get here," he said.
The last stop was a meeting with villagers, including women who had received seeds and tools as part of a backyard garden project run by ActionAid, a British aid group.
One of the women, Jan Bibi, said that because of the drought, she and 10 other members of her family eat only once a day. Bibi, who is in her 70s with no land or home of her own, said she had not eaten meat for six to eight weeks.
"We are sticking to one meal a day," Bibi said, holding up a forefinger. "This year, it's really, really bad."
Associated Press
MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan (AP) — Zara, an Afghan mother of seven, doesn't know what to tell her children when they ask about dinner.
"I simply tell them that we must wait until their father gets home to see if he's going to bring anything," she said, speaking from under a dusty blue burqa covering her from head to toe.
Zara, who uses just one name, is one of an estimated 2.6 million Afghans facing food shortages after one of the worst droughts to strike northern Afghanistan in a decade, according to Afghan officials and aid agencies. Already living in poverty in a country at war, many have been left destitute by the drought, which has affected 14 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces — all in the north.
Wells have dried up. Hundreds of children have been treated for malnutrition. Families are selling their animals at below-market prices. People are moving to cities to try to find food, water, work and, in some cases, a refuge from the fighting.
The Afghan government and aid agencies are racing to help them before snow blocks access to remote areas.
Rahmatullah Zahid, disaster coordinator in Balkh province, which has been hard-hit by the drought, said he is not worried yet about people starving to death, but he wonders how people will survive the winter, especially in remote areas.
"If the weather gets very, very cold in the remote areas and if the aid doesn't come, those families will be in danger of starvation," he said.
Beyond the relief effort, aid officials are trying to figure out how to end a vicious cycle of drought, drought relief and drought again in an area of the country that has suffered water and food shortages in eight of the past 11 years. Instead of trying to cultivate chronically dry land, perhaps farmers could grow almonds or grapes, which require less water than wheat, or industry could be lured to the area to extract its prevalent gas and oil.
Zara and her family moved to Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, so her husband, whose crops dried up, might find work as a day laborer.
She and hundreds of others who fled the rugged Alburz Mountains in the province gathered last week in a dirt lot in Mazar-e-Sharif to receive large canvas bags of kitchen supplies, blankets, lamps and other items, including a phone card. The aid was distributed by the Norwegian Refugee Council.
"We have very little food," Zara said, squatting next to her aid bag. "If my husband finds work, he can buy some breads and vegetables on his way home, but otherwise there is nothing."
As she spoke, a light mist began to fall. The rain came too late. The crops were ruined months ago.
"There was no rain so everything was burned up," said Mir Ahmad, a 58-year-old wheat farmer who also moved to Mazar-e-Sharif from the mountains.
"There is not much work here in the city right now," he said, fingering a strand of yellow prayer beads as the large blue bags were unloaded from a truck. "Some days there is nothing and I have to borrow food or money to feed my family."
The U.N. issued an appeal for $142 million on Oct. 1 to help those hit by the drought in 14 northern provinces, where up to 80 percent of non-irrigated fields yielded little to no crops. So far, about $49 million has been pledged by aid groups, the U.S. and European nations.
The Afghan government also is distributing about 40,000 tons of wheat, 5,000 tons of rice, 10,000 tons of wheat seed and 20,000 tons of animal feed.
Sayed Anwar Rahmati, the governor of neighboring Sar-e-Pul province, said more aid is needed.
"Every day people are coming and complaining," he said. "The crops were lost and the cattle were seriously affected."
Zainab Noori, a member of the local council in nearby Bamiyan province, said people in six districts were waiting for aid.
"If the aid is not delivered in the next month, the road will be blocked by snow," she said. "At least 50 families have left already to go to Kabul and Iran to find work."
Aidan O'Leary, head of the U.N. office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said repeated droughts in northern Afghanistan suggest that economic development is needed in addition to drought relief.
"What you're dealing with here is basically trying to maintain a rural, agrarian lifestyle in a climate that might not be conducive," O'Leary said. "What's the solution? Are you looking at better seeds? ... Are you looking at alternative crops? Are you looking at alternative livelihoods?"
With the international focus on pulling troops from Afghanistan, it's difficult to get nations sending development aid to discuss long-term solutions that would end the need for drought relief in the north every couple of years, he said. Compounding the problem is that while international aid has been flowing into Afghanistan for years, only a fraction has been targeted to reducing poverty, he said.
O'Leary noted a World Bank report this month that said the expected decline in international aid will have only a modest impact on the poor. The report said the majority of aid was spent to improve security and governance mostly in more urban areas where there is less poverty.
Ironically, it rained both days last week that O'Leary traveled to the north to check on drought aid with Michael Keating, deputy special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for Afghanistan with responsibility for relief, recovery and reconstruction. The first day it sprinkled. The second day it poured. Muddy water filled deep ruts in unpaved roads in Dawlat Abad district.
Keating and O'Leary tried to visit a nearby village, but one of the heavily armored U.N. vehicles in their convoy got stuck. They left the vehicle, turned around and drove on better roads to their next stop: a medical center where children are being treated for acute malnutrition.
The number of cases of malnutrition treated at the clinic increased threefold after the drought, said Dr. Said Mahmood Shah, nutrition coordinator for Save the Children. In the summer months, up to 90 malnourished children showed up at the center where a tiny office was crowded with cardboard boxes of eeZee Paste Nut, a peanut butter-like food with high energy, proteins and nutrients.
Now, rain, snow and poor roads have prevented some children from getting help, Shah said. "There are lots of cases, but they can't get here," he said.
The last stop was a meeting with villagers, including women who had received seeds and tools as part of a backyard garden project run by ActionAid, a British aid group.
One of the women, Jan Bibi, said that because of the drought, she and 10 other members of her family eat only once a day. Bibi, who is in her 70s with no land or home of her own, said she had not eaten meat for six to eight weeks.
"We are sticking to one meal a day," Bibi said, holding up a forefinger. "This year, it's really, really bad."
Associated Press
Friday, December 2, 2011
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