U.S. Urges Pakistan to Help Capture Taliban Leaders

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PAKISTAN – U.S. and NATO forces are concentrating their military efforts in Quetta, the capital of the Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Quetta is believed to be the center of operations for Taliban leaders and where the group has been sending supplies such as arms, money and fighters to southern Afghanistan.

Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar is one of many said to be hiding in Quetta. It is claimed that he guides commanders in southern Afghanistan, raises money from Gulf donors and delivers arms and fighters.

The U.S. intends to send about 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, but military officials say that this effort may be fruitless unless Pakistan assists in capturing Taliban leaders and cutting supply lines into Afghanistan.

U.S. and other western officials claim that Pakistani security forces do little to address the presence of Taliban military commanders in Quetta.

Pakistani officials state that their intelligence does not indicate where Taliban leaders are located.

“Pakistan will act against any individuals involved with Al Qaeda or the Taliban about whom we have actionable intelligence,” said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. “The problem is we do not always get actionable intelligence in Quetta in particular. It’s a very messy area.”

Some officials understand the hardship of the Pakistani government in Islamabad in capturing Taliban leaders. The Baluchistan Province has been a known hostile area to the government and it is difficult for government spies to get sources there.

However, members of the Obama administration believe that it must put pressure upon the Pakistani government to aid in U.S. efforts. “We’ve made some progress going into the tribal areas and North-West Frontier Province against Al Qaeda, but we have not had a counterpart war against the Quetta shura,” said a senior Obama administration official. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the Obama administration will threaten to cut off military aid to Islamabad unless Pakistan carries out a crackdown on militants operating throughout the country.

For more information, please see:

Associated Press – Pakistan Complicit in Killing by Taliban, a Polish Official Says – 10 February 2009

International Herald Tribune – The Taliban in Pakistan are Raising U.S. Fears – 10 February 2009

Newsweek – Pakistan’s Dangerous Double Game – 13 September 2008

Guatemala’s Child Malnutrition Rate Approaches Fifty Percent

By Karla E General
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – A study released on Thursday in Guatemala City indicates that 45.6 percent of Guatemalan children suffer from chronic malnutrition. The lack of adequate nutrition has led to a significantly lower physical growth rate than the average established by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The national census determined that children between the ages of eight and nine were most affected by malnutrition with girls being disproportionately affected; for instance, Guatemalan girls are, on average, eight to twelve centimeters shorter than the average set by the WHO.

The effects of malnutrition are intensified within the Indigenous provinces of Solola and Totonicapan where the study found that 49.7 percent of children suffer from malnutrition and one in every sixteen will die before reaching the age of five. An earlier study by the Catholic Relief Services attributed the high malnutrition rate to the thirty year civil war and decades of political policies that have excluded Mayan Indigenous people from accessing basic services such as health care and education. Juan Aguilar, head of the presidency’s Food Security Secretariat, added that the high malnutrition rate among children was a result of inadequate food, high levels of poverty, and a dearth of basic services.

For more information, please see:

Relief Web – Breaking Malnutrition’s Cycle in Guatemala – 25 January 2009

Baltimore Sun – Viewpoint: School Lunches Can Nourish Hope – 26 January 2009

Latin American Herald Tribune – Nearly Half of Guatemala’s Children Suffer from Malnutrition – 15 February 2009

Fiji Interim Government to Hold Second Political Dialogue Meeting in March

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s interim Attorney Generals says that, before the President’s Dialogue Forum convenes, the interim government should hold a second political dialogue meeting to discuss the agenda and terms of reference to be discussed at that Forum.

Interim Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, called for this second meeting during his discussions with a joint technical team made up of representatives from the United Nations and Commonwealth. Last week, the joint team traveled to Fiji to conduct a fact-finding mission on the country’s political situation.

Mr. Sayed-Khaiyum says his discussions with the joint team included the scope of issues to be discussed at the impending President’s Dialogue Forum.

The interim Attorney General also says that interim Prime Minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, is eager to use the Forum to better assess political opinions among Non-Governmental Organizations as well as civil society groups.

FijiLive reports that the second political dialogue is scheduled for the first or second week of March.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji’s interim administration says second political dialogue meeting to be held in March – 15 February 2009

FijiTimes – Our last chance – 10 February 2009

Uzbek Refugee on Trial

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

UZBEKISTAN – Haiatjon Juraboev, a refugee, was abducted from Kyrgyzstan last year and returned to Uzbekistan where he is now believed to be on trial.  He is charged with religious extremism and illegal border crossing. The trial was scheduled on January 30.

“We’re very concerned about Juraboev’s safety and well-being in Uzbek custody,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Kyrgyzstan’s failure to protect him is a sad reflection on the state of that country’s refugee protection system.”

In 2007, Juraboev was extradited by the Russian government to Uzbekistan.  He was subsequently arrested and released with no charges.  Juraboev then fled to Kyrgyzstan and registered as an asylum seeker by the Kyrgyz State Committee for Migration and Employment.  He was granted refugee status by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in September 2008.

While in Kyrgystan, Juraboev was at a mosque in Bishkek, the capital.  A man claiming to be a Kyrgyz National Security Service officer directed him into a car.  He disappeared until January when his mother learned he was in Tashkent prison.

Human Rights Watch wrote a letter to President Kurmanbek Bakiev of Kyrgyzstan in December.  They asked the government to protect and stop deporting refugees and asylum seekers.  It also calls for the investigations in the disappearances.

“The Uzbek government has made clear it will continue to hound dissidents within and outside its international borders without letting its legal obligations get in the way,” said Cartner. “The Kyrgyz government needs to confirm or deny that its National Security Service apprehended and forcibly returned Juraboev. If it was not involved, then Kyrgyzstan should protest to the Uzbek government that foreign agents operating on its soil abducted and returned an Uzbek refugee, and demand his return.”

Human Rights Watch further states that the Kyrgyz and Uzbek government should collaborate in bringing justice to those responsible for these abductions.

Since 2005, Kyrgyzstan has extradited more than a dozen refugees to Uzbekistan.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Uzbekistan:  Abducted Refugee on Trial – 5 February 2009

Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty – Uzbek Refugee Returned to Uzbekistan for Trial – 10 February 2009

Reuters – Rights Group Urges Kyrgyzstan Not to Extradite Uzbek – 14 May 2008

Fiji’s Interim Regime’s Motives Questioned

By Sarah E. Treptow
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Commodore Frank Bainimarama says he did not overthrow the Qarase government in 2006 to seize power and remain in control.  He made it known to the Vice President of China Xi Jinping during a meeting that the military will only stay in power until all of its objectives are achieved.

Bainimarama explained, “The military, essentially assumed control of the Government with clear objectives to eliminate corruption, racial discrimination policies and practices, and to bring about necessary reforms in the area of public service, governance as well as the electoral system in an effort to build a better and more progressive Fiji.”

Bainimarama said Fiji will return to a system of parliamentary democracy, “the timing of which will be determined by the people of Fiji alone.”

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Jone Baledrokadroka, the former commander of the Fiji military land force says the military will remain a part of Fiji’s political landscape.  Baledrokadroka said the Government has been militarized at all levels, from ministerial positions to permanent secretaries in all departments.  He continued, “They’ve put people all over our Government. Now they’re talking about municipal councils. So it seems they have a plan to be in power.”

Fiji’s National Federation Party general secretary, Pramod Rae, says Fiji’s people are sick of uncertainty, so it is incumbent that the interim regime commits to a return to parliamentary democracy.

For more information, please see:
Radio New Zealand International – Fiji’s NFP says Forum 2009 deadline achievable – 10 February 2009

Islands Business – Military not power hungry: Bainimarama – 11 February 2009

Pacific Islands Report – Former Fiji Commander Says Military ‘To Stay’ – 12 February 2009

Fiji Times – ‘Hidden agenda’ in army call-up – 12 February 2009