Argentine farmers to resume protest over grains tax

BUENOS AIRES, May 8: Argentine farmers announced fresh protests over a tax hike, aiming to disrupt grains exports from one of the world's leading suppliers of corn, wheat and soybeans.

Farm leaders said yesterday they had decided to break off weeks of tense negotiations with the government because officials were unwilling to reform a new system of grains exports taxes that triggered a three week-strike in March.

''After 57 days, we haven't advanced. The Government has chosen the road of confrontation. It's the only reason we haven't reached an agreement,'' said Eduardo Buzzi, president of the Argentine Agrarian Federation, one of the four groups that led March's strike.

That protest caused food shortages in the nation's supermarkets and landed President Cristina Fernandez with her biggest challenge since taking office five months ago.

It also hit grains shipments, and US soy futures soared yesterday as the specter of fresh disruption loomed.

At a joint news conference, agricultural leaders said the freeze on selling goods such as corn and soybeans would last until May 15, but added farmers would not block highways because they did not want ordinary Argentines to suffer.

''The transport of food items for consumers must continue normally,'' said Mario Llambias, head of the Argentine Rural Confederations.

During the strike, farmers manned road blocks and halted sales of grains and beef after the center-left government introduced a sliding scale of export taxes that substantially raised the levies on soy and sunseed products.

ROADSIDE PROTESTS

Even before a new wave of protests was announced, farmers staged roadside protests across the vast South American country -- the world's No. 2 corn exporter, the third-biggest soy supplier and the No. 4 provider of wheat and beef.

''This is finished. We're going to go back on strike, no doubt about it,'' said Alfredo De Angeli, a farmer from the Entre Rios province who became well-known during March's strike for his fiery speeches to farmers manning roadblocks.

Fernandez's government has refused to scrap the sliding scale tax system and she defends high export duties on farm goods as a way to redistribute wealth and combat inflation in a country where about a quarter of the population lives in poverty.

Increased revenue from export taxes has helped the government maintain healthy budget surpluses and keep the peso currency weak to stimulate exports.

However, the tax shake-up announced on March 11 proved a detonator for farmers already angry over a string of policies intended to keep food costs down, including price controls and repeated export restrictions on wheat and beef.

The new system pinned export taxes to international prices, raising levies on soybeans to about 40 per cent at current prices from the previous fixed rate of 35 per cent.

Soy exports earned the country 13.47 billion dollar last year while sales of farm goods abroad accounted for 52 per cent of total Argentine exports, totaling 29.13 billion dollar. (AGENCIES)

US, NATO battle on uneven Afghan patchwork

MAIDAN SHAHR, AFGHANISTAN, May 8: Last week US Captain Roger Hill led a patrol into the Jaldez valley, just southwest of Kabul, and was immediately ambushed from three sides by 50 Taliban fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades.

The army of attackers, robed and bearded, fired somewhere between 25 and 30 grenades at his convoy, Hill said, pinning the patrol down in a furious two-hour gun battle that ended only when US fighter planes swooped in for support.

It was a relatively rare and surprisingly staunch attack for that area of Afghanistan, reminiscent in its intensity to episodes in Iraq, where Hill spent more than a year. Yet asked where he would rather be deployed, he is clear.

''I feel like we're getting somewhere here. In a way we've had to start much more from scratch in Iraq than in Afghanistan,'' he said. ''Here there's a sense of progress.''

His commander Major Christopher Faber, the operations officer for a task force of the 101st Airborne Division in Maidan Wardak, a province just south of Kabul, is even more succinct.

''In Iraq, it's hunting season all year long for them,'' he said, referring to the insurgents. ''Here, I feel like there's a lot more optimism.''

In some ways those views contradict the received wisdom on Afghanistan, described by military experts in the United States as a ''forgotten war'' and one America and its NATO allies will lose if they do not boost numbers and change tactics rapidly.

Yet on the ground in Afghanistan the conflict quickly shows itself to be far more nuanced, with large swathes of the country relatively stable and making slow if very cumbersome progress, while other areas -- particularly the far south -- are mired in a conflict that frequently eclipses Iraq for intensity.

''THE RITZ''

In the southern portions of east Afghanistan, where US forces have been operating for more than six years, even the provinces that border Pakistan and have been a refuge for the Taliban in the past are showing signs of calm.

US commanders spend the bulk of their days meeting local Afghan officials, trying to coordinate efforts with French, Czech or Turkish reconstruction teams and running patrols alongside the slowly improving Afghan army.

There tends to be little combat, although rockets are still frequently fired at US bases, roadside bombs are an occasional threat and an uptick in violence is expected as the weather warms into a possible Spring offensive by the Taliban.

At the main US base in the area, just 20 km from the Pakistan border, US soldiers appear very relaxed about their deployment and the day-to-day duties.

''This place is the Ritz,'' says Private Adam Grow, 23, referring to what is known as Forward Operating Base Salerno.

''I work a 9 to 5 shift, get my work done, and then go the gym or take a class. There's definitely worse places to be.''

Grow and his friend Specialist Christopher Moore, 34, are taking a philosophy class as part of a military education programme. The gym on the base is the size of an aircraft hangar with 10 running machines, endless weight racks, ice-cold water on tap from stainless steel fridges and live U.S. Sports on TV.

''This is a war zone, believe it or not,'' jokes Moore.

GENERATION TO RECOVER

Three provinces to the southwest, it very much is a war zone. In Kandahar and Helmand, in the desert regions of southern Afghanistan, US, British, Canadian and Dutch troops battle furiously against an entrenched Taliban on a near-daily basis.

Hundreds of U.S. Marines were sent in the last week to retake a town in south Helmand, where around 7,000 British troops have been based for two years and are making slow progress, sometimes taking territory only to lose it weeks later.

The battle to secure Helmand, which alone produces nearly half the world's opium, could drag on for years more. Afterwards, years of intense reconstruction would still be required to prevent the region collapsing again.

Kandahar, the one-time headquarters for the Taliban, is little different. Alone, the two vast provinces help explain why even military and civilian optimists think it could be a generation before Afghanistan is fully on the road to recovery.

At the same time, in those areas to the east and in northern Afghanistan where progress appears to have been made, the United States and NATO have to be sure to coordinate their efforts so that the overall impact is not two steps forward and one back.

Forty countries are now contributing to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which has around 47,000 troops, but drawing up a strategy that unifies their work has proved elusive. In addition, the United States has some 14,000 troops serving in a separate force.

The US defence secretary has expressed frustration that NATO cannot or will not come up with more troops to support the fight. Washington has mooted it could now send up to 7,000 more of its own troops to boost numbers next year.

Perhaps partly as a result, US soldiers in Afghanistan joke that ISAF stands for ''I Suck At Fighting''. Yet a serious note underlines the soldiers' ribbing of their allies.

Because they don't feel totally supported by ISAF on the battlefield, there are elements of tension between U.S. And NATO commanders when it comes to managing post-combat reconstruction.

In Wardak, Major Faber shares a base with some French troops involved in reconstruction, and the Turks have a nearby compound from where they administer aid and training of Afghan forces. They wave hello, but do not always know what everyone's up to.

''I see a lot more international effort here than in Iraq,'' says Captain Hill, weighing up the positives. ''But I don't necessarily know what a French officer, or a USAID guy, or a Turkish reconstruction guy is doing and that makes it hard.

''We're making progress, but if we can't coordinate better then we're kind of shooting ourselves in the foot,'' he says. (AGENCIES)

Gene trawl shows Druze are living 'gene sanctuary

WASHINGTON, May 8: The Druze people of Israel are a genetic sanctuary of ancient lineages of DNA, researchers reported.

Not only does the exclusive religious community offer a snapshot into the history of the Middle East, but their well-preserved diversity may provide opportunities for medical research, the team at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology said yesterday.

The researchers looked at mitochondrial DNA, a type of genetic material that is passed down virtually unchanged from mother to daughter. It can provide a kind of snapshot of the ancestry of a person.

''Altogether we sampled 311 different paternal households from 20 Druze villages in Northern Israel, and 208 surnames were identified,'' Karl Skorecki and colleagues wrote in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE.

The mitochondrial DNA backed up the legendary origin of this close-knit religious group, believed to number 1 million or fewer.

For instance, Skorecki's team discovered an unusually high frequency of a haplogroup, or a distinct collection of genetic markers, called haplogroup X. Haplogroup X is rare but is found around the world among diverse groups.

This fits in with the known history of the Druze, who mostly live in mountainous regions of Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan, and provides ''a sample snapshot of the genetic landscape of the Near East prior to the modern age,'' the researchers wrote.

Marriage outside the group is discouraged, first cousins often marry, and it is impossible to convert to the religion, an offshoot of Islam.

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

The Druze religion was founded in the year 1017 by what were believed to have been an ethnically diverse group of people and Skorecki's team's findings support this.

''The populations with the smallest genetic distances to the Druze were: Turks, Armenians, Iranians and Egyptians,'' they wrote.

This diversity offers a unique opportunity for researchers to study whether people who have different types of mitochondrial DNA are predisposed to different kinds of diseases.

''You can look at 150 kinds of mitochondrial DNA within one group with a similar environment, and be able to see the specific contribution of these variations,'' Skorecki said in a statement.

And the different populations may offer interesting insights.

''Since they are comprised of so many distinct lineages, genetic disease may vary from clan to clan and village to village,'' said Skorecki, who found genetic evidence that modern-day Jewish priests, called Kohanim, are descendants of a single common male ancestor.

This would be consistent with legend that the Kohanim are the descendants of the the Biblical high priest Aaron.

Skorecki also led a team that found evidence that 40 per cent of Ashkenazi or European-origin Jews are descended from four ''founding mothers,'' who lived in Europe 1,000 years ago. (AGENCIES)

Technical flaws mar hearing in new Guantanamo court

GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, CUBA, May 8: Osama bin Laden’s suspected "media director" rejected US terrorism court proceedings and renewed his allegiance to the al Qaeda leader in a hearing marred by technical flaws in a new Guantanamo courtroom.

With the lights momentarily out from a power failure in the windowless military courtroom set up to try Guantanamo prisoners, Al Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul declined to enter a plea at his arraignment on three terrorism related charges.

He had earlier held up a handwritten "boycott" sign and declined to answer when asked whether he was rejecting his military attorney, though in a lengthy statement to the court he indicated he would not contest his charges.

"I will never deny that I have done any act, that I have participated with bin Laden in fighting you or your allies, the Jews," Bahlul said yesterday. "We will continue in our jihad and nothing is going to stop us."

The power failure and technical problems repeatedly disrupted what was the first hearing in the new courtroom, part of a 12 million dollar complex built to handle a wave of trials expected to begin later this month at the US naval base in southeastern Cuba.

"I think they should hire Mr. Bahlul to do a sound check next time," said Air Force Maj David Frakt, a military lawyer assigned to represent Bahlul. Prosecutors describe Bahlul as an audio-visual expert for al Qaeda.

The Yemeni prisoner was charged with conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support for terrorism. He was accused of preparing a propaganda video glorifying the attack on the American destroyer Cole, preparing the videotaped will of September 11 ringleader Mohamed Atta, and operating computer and communications gear for bin Laden.

"I am renewing my allegiance to Sheikh Osama bin Laden," said the bearded Bahlul, who wore a loose green shirt as he sat at the defense table with two military guards behind him.

Military security stood to surround Bahlul when the lights went out, and an alarm beeped.

The session continued in the darkness. Bahlul did not respond when asked whether he wished to enter a plea. "Apparently not," said the judge, Army Col. Peter Brownback.

‘MEDIA MAN’

Earlier audio-visual flaws prevented journalists and rights observers from hearing the opening proceedings in the viewers’ gallery behind a soundproof double-glass curtain.

The problems also frustrated Brownback, who moved about the courtroom in search of a working microphone and complained, "I don’t know what’s wrong with the audio in this place."

Bahlul was unruffled, telling the court, "I don’t care that you interrupt the media from listening. Trust me, I am a media man myself, I know the effect of the media, but I really don’t care."

Brownback allowed Bahlul to act as his own attorney for now, but kept Frakt on standby basis. Frakt said Bahlul’s self-representation creates big problems for the military-such as whether Bahlul can see classified evidence against him or how he can review any case material, given the absence of computers in the prison.

Brownback set Bahlul’s next hearing for June 26-27.

At a later hearing in another courtroom, Afghan prisoner Mohammed Jawad relaxed his earlier rejection of a defense attorney and agreed to be represented, but only to contest the legitimacy of the Guantanamo court.

Jawad, who has said he was 16 when captured in Afghanistan in December 2002, is accused of throwing a grenade into a US military jeep at a bazaar in Kabul and injuring two American soldiers and their interpreter.

"Mr. Jawad is an innocent man. He has been held for five years. He was a homeless boy wrongfully accused and beaten into confession by the Afghanistan police," said Frakt, who was also assigned to represent Jawad.

The United States has held foreign captives at Guantanamo since January 2002, in a detention and interrogation operation widely criticized as a violation of human rights.

Charges are pending against 14 prisoners in the special court set up to try captives the United States considers to be unlawful enemy combatants who do not merit trial in traditional civilian and military courts.

(AGENCIES)

5,000 sq km of Myanmar still underwater: UN

BANGKOK, May 8: About 5,000 square kilometres of Myanmar's cyclone-hit regions remain underwater, with more than a million people in need of emergency relief, a UN spokesman said today.

"We're talking about 5,000 square kilometres under water," said Richard Horsey, a Bangkok-based spokesman with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

"The bottle-neck (in aid) is getting it out in the delta. That needs boats, helicopters, trucks ... There are upward of one million people in need of help," he added.

Horsey said there was a shortage of boats in the worst-hit areas of the low-lying Irrawaddy delta, with many vessels destroyed in the storm.

Without immediate assistance, the death toll -- officially at nearly 22,000 with about 42,000 missing -- would climb.

"Fairly clearly, we're dealing with a situation where there could be a second round, where people start dying from water-borne diseases," he told AFP.

"There are thousands of bodies floating around in the water," he said, adding that they posed a grave health risk to the survivors.

France and the United States both have ships ready to deliver supplies after the devastating cyclone, but are awaiting the green light from Myanmar's reclusive military, which appears reluctant to let in outside help.

A United Nations plane is currently in Brindisi in southern Italy waiting to fly to Yangon, while the UN refugee agency has 22 tonnes of aid poised on the Myanmar border, waiting for the go-ahead. (AGENCIES)

Drugs undermine Afghanistan's efforts to rebuild

FAIZABAD, AFGHANISTAN, May 8: Jam Bigum, a drug addict in Afghanistan's impoverished northern province of Badakhshan, feeds her three-month-old son opium three times a day to keep him quiet.

''The baby got addicted in my womb. He will die of crying if I don't give him opium. When I give him opium he becomes quiet and sleeps,'' she said. The infant had an empty gaze and appeared drowsy throughout the interview.

Afghanistan is the world's largest opium producer and exporter but most people tend to forget that it is also a huge narcotics consumer. A 2005 survey estimated that there are some 920,000 drug users in a country of 26 million.

For a long time, people living in remote parts of Afghanistan have had a casual attitude towards opium, using it as a panacea for just about anything due to a lack of medicines. Like Bigum's baby, they are fed opium so their mothers can work.

But such lifelong addiction exacts a tremendous strain, sapping people of their energy to work, slowly undermining their health as well as the general well-being of their family.

''Opium covers up the symptoms of tuberculosis, like cough and pain, and the condition worsens. This is a problem because the person is infectious,'' said a doctor in Badakhshan who helps drug addicts. He asked to have his name withheld.

''Addicts do anything to feed their addiction, they even sell their property. They lose everything.''

For Naik Bakhat, a 35-year-old mother of four, her life and her destiny seem to revolve around her addiction.

''It helps relieve the pain, we are so poor,'' said Bakhat, who sells wild herbs to feed her addiction. ''We spend 200 dollars a month on opium. We even sold our land to buy opium. Now we have nothing. Almost all our income is spent on opium.''

In recent years, the Afghan government has rolled out plans to help wean addicts off opium and eradicate poppy fields.

It is under pressure from the international community to stop poppy cultivation. Afghanistan is the source of most of the world's supply of opium, from which heroin is derived.

TALIBAN TAKES A CUT

The bulk of Afghanistan's poppy production comes from the south, an area where Taliban insurgents wield considerable influence and over which Kabul has only partial control. Security sources say the Taliban takes a 10 per cent share of poppy yields.

Christine Oguz, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, says the opium trade in the south is flourishing due to a mix of powerful landowners, organised criminal networks, corrupt officials and a lack of law and order.

Two kidnapped Japanese women released in Yemen:Govt

TOKYO, May 8: Two Japanese women who were kidnapped by local tribesmen while holidaying in Yemen have been released safely, Japan's foreign ministry said today.

The pair, who were abducted while visiting a historic site in Marib, arrived without injury at their hotel, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, quoting a source from Japan's embassy in Yemen.

A provincial Government official in the area had said the tribesmen kidnapped the women to press the Yemen Government to free a jailed relative. Security forces had surrounded the area where the kidnappers took their hostages.

The Japanese foreign ministry, which cited information received from the Yemeni authorities in its statement on the release, did not give the terms for the women's freedom and there were no further details immediately available.

The two women were part of a group of five sightseeing near the ancient Marib Dam, a major tourist attraction.

Scores of holidaymakers and foreigners working in Yemen have been kidnapped over the past decade by tribesmen demanding better schools, roads and services, or the release of prisoners.

Most hostages have been freed unharmed, but in 2000 a Norwegian diplomat was killed in crossfire and in 1998 four Westerners were killed during a botched army attempt to free them from Islamic militants who had seized 16 tourists.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has vowed to crack down on the abduction of foreigners which, along with attacks by Islamist militants, have hindered the poor Arab state's efforts to boost tourism.

(AGENCIES)

US buyers defy economy at Sotheby's NY art auction

NEW YORK, May 8: American art collectors defied a sinking US economy making up nearly 70 per cent of buyers at a Sotheby's New York sale that saw records smashed for work by artists Edvard Munch and Fernand Leger.

American buyers made up 67 per cent of buyers at the Sotheby's <BID.N> Impressionist and modern art auction, double the number of US buyers who were successful as Christie's rival sale on Tuesday.

''It shows any attempt to draw a facile relationship between what's happening in the financial markets and what's happening in the art auction market is irrelevant,'' said Simon Shaw yesterday, head of Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art department.

''While stock markets are turbulent. For every bidder that we lose because their portfolio has gone down we typically gain another who doesn't see an interesting return -- interest rates are pretty hopeless, stock markets not looking very exciting --so we pick up new people like that,'' he added.

But he said the state of the US economy had certainly influenced the type of sale Sotheby's put together.

''I would be lying if is said we didn't feel a responsibility to produce a small, tightly edited carefully curated sale. We certainly did,'' Shaw said. ''We didn't feel that this was a moment to be having long flabby sales with overpriced material.''

The sale made a total of 233.3 million dollar, meeting Sotheby's estimates, with an average lot value of 5.7 million dollar, up from 3.5 million dollar six months ago, the auction house said.

Leger's ''Etude pour La Femm en Bleu'' (1912-13) sold for 39.2 million dollar, almost double the previous 22.4 million dollar record, while Munch's ''Girls on a Bridge'' (1902) fetched 30.8 million dollar, nearly triple the former record for the artist's work.

''In both cases these were works that in terms of their quality and their rarity were far more significant than any Leger or Munch we have seen on the market in recent times,'' Shaw said.

The surprise of the evening came when Henri Matisse's ''Le Geranium'' sparked frenzied bidding and sold for nearly triple the Sotheby's high estimate of 3.5 million dollar, prompting a round of applause from the audience.

''What was proven tonight was the quality of the works transcend that other (economic) stuff,'' he said.

Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art sale fell short in November, sending its share price tumbling. It bounced back with a spectacular contemporary sale the following week as well as strong results in London in February. Fourth-quarter profit last year rose nearly 50 per cent.

The Impressionist and modern art sales by the archrivals of high-stakes art auctions kicked off a fortnight of sales during which further records could be set and the likely total is expected to be more than 1 billion dollar.

The top-priced lot is Bacon's ''Triptych, 1976,'' which is expected to command in the neighborhood of 70 million dollar at Sotheby's. Christie's has its own Bacon Triptych, ''Three Studies for Self-Portrait,'' bearing a pre-sale estimate of more than 30 million dollar.

(AGENCIES)

UN officials urge Yangon to ensure aid delivery

NEW YORK, May 8: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the top UN humanitarian official has urged Myanmar authorities to facilitate the delivery of aid in the wake of the deadly cyclone that wreaked death and destruction in the country.

The government in Myanmar has confirmed that more than 100,000 have died, and more than 41,000 people are missing, following Cyclone Nargis which struck the southeast Asian nation late last month. Initial estimates suggest that up to 1 million people are currently homeless, and many more require assistance.

"The Secretary-General believes that this is a critical moment for the people of Myanmar, and emphasised the importance of providing as much assistance as possible in the vital first few days following the cyclone_s impact," according to a statement issued yesterday by Mr Ban_s spokesperson.

He welcomed the news that some UN aid officials will be allowed into Myanmar later today, which will assist assessment and prioritisation efforts.

"Given the magnitude of this disaster, the Secretary-General urged the Government of Myanmar to respond to the outpouring of international support and solidarity by facilitating the arrival of aid workers, and the clearance of relief supplies in every way possible," the statement said yesterday. ''This can significantly aid the Government in responding to this tragedy.''

Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes echoed Mr Ban_s call, stressing that "any delays are going to be potentially critical" in the face of such a disaster.

Members of a UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team will be flying to Myanmar later today to coordinate relief efforts together with the national authorities.

Mr Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, stated that while assistance has started to arrive, the effort is clearly not adequate given the enormity of the situation. "We are faced here with a major catastrophe," he told journalists at UN headquarters in New York.

The undersecretary-general added that the UN will allocate at least 10 million dollars from the Central Emergency Response Fund for the aid effort. In addition, over two dozen countries have indicated their willingness to contribute to relief efforts, in the amount of 30 million dollars. The UN is working with the Government to prepare a flash appeal to donors to be launched tomorrow.

Cyclone Nargis, which made landfall in the Irrawaddy delta region and then moved across the country_s largest city, Yangon, caused widespread destruction, including destroying homes, tearing down trees and power lines and damaging communications.

Myanmar authorities have declared five regions - Yangon, Irrawady, Bago, Mon and Kayin - disaster areas. The combined total population of the disaster areas is around 24 million.

"Time is of the essence and we are already reaching storm victims with food. We are mobilising all possible resources to save lives given the massive disruption in food, water, and shelter caused by this storm," said WFP Executive Director, Josette Sheeran, speaking from Washington.

(UNI)

Press freedom body urges Myanmar to allow entry to scribes

NEW YORK, May 8: Reporters have managed to keep independent news and information flowing from Myanmar despite tight restrictions imposed by the military government, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a special report.

The report was released yesterday in New York, where the committee is based.

Details of how exiles-run organisations such as The Irrawaddy and Mizzima have provided independent coverage of politics, policies and natural disasters such as the devastating cyclone recently.

Shawn Crispin of the committee wrote. Local newspapers are censored by state authorities before publication, while broadcast media are monopolised by the ruling military junta.

The vital role of the exile-run media is highlighted by its coverage of Cyclone Nargis, which challenged official accounts of the storm and provided the world with a glimpse into the devastation.

CPJ is calling on Myanmar authorities to allow journalists into the country to cover the devastation caused by the cyclone and to let local journalists report the news without fear of reprisal.

"Independent observers such as journalists play a critical role in a crisis like this informing aid organisations, the local population and the world in order to help those in need," Executive Director Joel Simon of the committee said.

The committee is an independent, nonprofit organisation that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

(UNI)

UN wraps up electoral assistance after Nepal Polls

UNITED NATIONS, May 8: The United Nations Electoral Assistance Office in Nepal is concluding its work after providing technical aid and advice to the country's Election Commission for last month's Constituent Assembly polls.

"The role of the Electoral Assistance Office has ended," Fida Nasrallah, Chief Electoral Advisor with the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), said today. She will deliver a final report in June based on the written reports of electoral advisors.

"I would describe the experience overall as having been extremely successful," she said, adding that it was "very challenging, demanding a lot of patience and diplomacy."

All 25 political parties winning seats in the April 10 polls have now submitted their lists of candidates to the Election Commission, with the percentage of women candidates lying just below one third of the elected Constituent Assembly, up from 6 per cent in the previous election.

Once the Commission announces the final results, the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly must take place within 21 days, UMNIN said. The Assembly will then be tasked with drawing up a new constitution for the country, which has emerged from a decade-long civil war that claimed an estimated 13,000 lives before the Government and Maoist signed a peace accord in 2006.

On election day, UN electoral advisors visited polling centres to monitor the process, and since then have helped analyse the election results. They have also trained political parties in selecting candidates to meet quota requirements as well as setting up media monitoring for non-electoral periods. (PTI)

Hindus in Pak asked not to cremate dead in British ground

ISLAMABAD, May 8: Pakistani Hindus have been asked not to use a cremation ground allotted to them during the British era in the country’s troubled northwest.

The tribesmen in Kohat town of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) have refused to let the Hindu community cremate their dead at a ground which was allotted to them more than a century ago.

The Hindus had recently sought permission for cremating their near and dear one in the mountains of Alizai area which was a cremation site before the Partition of India.

However, when a local government official was inaugurating the cremation ground the tribesmen stopped the ceremony saying the jirga will take a decision in this regard.

A Hindu elder on condition of anonymity told Dawn that they used to cremate their dead near the Kohat Toi few decades back, then the military forcibly stopped the practice taking the plea that it demoralised the soldiers who took part in exercises in these areas.

He said that the poor Hindu community was unable to bear the extra burden of expenses incurred on taking the bodies to Attock and then make arrangements for the cremation.

The Hindu community living in Kurram, Hangu, Orakzai and Kohat tribal regions were not allowed to cremate in their respective regions shortly after Partition and they had to carry the bodies to as far as Attock for cremation. The community wanted an alternative site and had requested the government to provide them a place in the tribal region.

A place for the last rites of the Balmiki Hindu community living in the tribal as well as settled areas was allotted in Alizai, however, the elders of the area stopped the inauguration ceremony on Monday and said no last rights will be performed in the area till the jirga gives consent. (PTI)