Summary:

On the afternoon of 26 October 2015, an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck North West Pakistan. With the epicentre in a remote part of the Hindukush mountain range, the tremor was felt in Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of northern India.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KP) and Bajaur Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were listed as the worst affected areas in Pakistan, and remained the focus of relief efforts in the subsequent weeks.

As an early winter had set in, the most critical needs would be met by winterization kits, shelter, NFIs and health interventions.

The most recent reflection of losses and damages as reported by the National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan is presented below.

Coordination and partnerships

On the evening of 26 October, the IFRC Pakistan Delegation had its first coordination meeting with the PRC, providing technical guidance, supporting with updating of the Disaster Management Information System (DMIS), and advising on options available to the National Society. This led to development and launching of a Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) Plan of Action.

The PRC National Headquarters in Islamabad activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and has been coordinating the assessment and response efforts, maintaining communication with involved provincial branches which also activated their EOCs. The PRC has also convened coordination meetings with in-country Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Partners to update on the evolving situation, the immediate response operation and planned activities. In addition, regular situation reports are shared with Movement Partners and other organizations.

In Islamabad, the PRC coordinated with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), while at provincial and district levels, Provincial and District branches of the PRC coordinated with the respective provincial and district disaster management authorities.

QUETTA: At least three security personnel, a civilian and a minor were injured in a suicide blast at the entrance of a military cantonment compound in Balochistan's Zhob district on Friday, officials said.

A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the gate of the compound, said Deputy Commissioner Nazar Muhammad Khetran, adding that the "intensity of the blast rocked the entire city."

He said police and other law enforcers responded swiftly, and shifted the injured to a military-run hospital.

The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Masood group claimed responsibility for the attack.

A heavy contingent of security forces' personnel reached the blast site and cordoned off the area.

Zhob is considered to be one of the sensitive districts of Balochistan since it borders the country's volatile tribal belt. It is also considered to be a transit point for militants sneaking in from neighbouring Afghanistan and the tribal belt of Pakistan.

The U.S. Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, recently contributed $20 million to support the provision of food to approximately 1.2 million temporary displaced persons of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, 75,000 earthquake-affected individuals, and 153,500 malnourished women and children in Pakistan.

This new contribution by the United States will be managed by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which will transform approximately 40,000 metric tons of wheat provided by the Government of Pakistan into fortified wheat flour. In addition, the WFP will purchase and distribute more than 9,000 tons of specialized food commodities to these groups.

“The U.S. Government is helping Pakistan to improve access to safe and nutritious food for women, men, and children who are vulnerable to malnutrition,” USAID Mission Director John Groarke said. “The United States has a longstanding commitment to working with Pakistan to provide humanitarian assistance and support human development.”

USAID’s $20 million donation is a contribution to the Twinning Program, a partnership among the Government of Pakistan, the WFP, and the international donor community. Through the Twinning Program, wheat donated by the Government of Pakistan is transformed into fortified wheat flour and distributed to vulnerable displaced populations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Donor funds are used to cover the costs of milling, fortification, storage, transportation, and distribution of the wheat flour. USAID is the largest international donor to the Twinning Program and with this latest contribution has now reached $75 million in total support to the program since 2013.

Author: Faria Salman

Durdana is a young widower from Pakistan’s Dadu District in Sindh Province. She is one of 1,214 landless women farmers and sharecroppers who have received land tenancy rights for the first time in their lives.

Speaking of her new status, Durdana shares that farming is her life: “I do not know anything else but working in the fields. Who could think a poor female widower like me would be given land! For the first time in my life I can say something is mine. This land, as far as the eye can see is mine - this paper says so. This is my land and I am its queen,” she says beamingly.

UN Women Pakistan in collaboration with local partners, Baanhn Beli and Gorakh Foundation, in Mirpur Khas and Dadu Districts, respectively, is working with 1,214 vulnerable rural women farmers, like Durdana, to acquire land tenancy rights from their feudal and tribal landholders. These landless women farmers were trained and mentored to prepare tenancy agreements and landholding maps with their male landlords.

In the process, they have been provided with a viable livelihood option that could take them out of poverty and enable their upward social mobility.

Women’s access to land rights is a critical asset for Durdana and other vulnerable rural women. Before becoming tenants and without the security of tenure they were unable to make long-term plans and invest in farming, protect themselves from the impacts of natural disasters, or even enhance their standards of living. In many cases these women were coerced to leave their lands when the crop cycle was at the final harvesting stage resulting in heavy economic losses and psychological trauma for them and their families. In the absence of formal written agreements they were unable to protect their rights to reap the full benefits of their crop.

The Province of Sindh has the highest rate of landlessness in Pakistan. Whilst the Sindh Tenancy Amendment Act 2013 protects tenants and peasant farmers, its weak implementation makes women farmers vulnerable to insecure verbal tenancy arrangements.

Through these tenancy agreements, feudal and tribal male landlords leased their terrains to women farmers for an agreed period of time, giving them access to the land, a place to live, and the possibility of operating the farms as per their plans while receiving a portion of profit from the crops grown.

This initiative titled, “Livelihood restoration, protection and sustainable empowerment of vulnerable peasant communities in Sindh province”, implemented by UN Women, FAO and ILO under the UN Trust Fund for Human Security, is expected to contribute greatly in rural transformation and women’s empowerment, and can be replicated across Pakistan with guidance and support of partners, landlords and local governments.

Peshawar, 27 January 2016 – The Government of Fata has a signed a new agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, at a high-profile event organized at the Governor’s House, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa today.

This new partnership aims to support the Government of FATA’s reform in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), and includes the launch of the Governor’s Strategic Support Unit.

Since March 2015, more than 115,000 families (38 percent of those displaced) have returned to their homes in FATA, where they are faced with damaged infrastructure and minimal access to basic services. The United Kingdom has contributed over GBP 10.25 million (over Rupees 1,5000 million) - GBP 6.25 million (over Rupees 930 million) through UNDP - to improve governance of the recovery process, provide direct support to returning families to rebuild basic services and livelihoods, and to plan for longer term reform.

An essential element of this support is the establishment of the Governor’s Strategic Support Unit, which will provide additional capacity within the Government to help deliver some of the most important aspects of its reform agenda. This Unit, launched today, will help the FATA Secretariat and other FATA departments deliver major reform in at least four key sectors of government including education, health, economic development and FATA reforms through additional problem solving and analytical capacity.

With support from the UK, UNDP will also provide technical assistance to FATA Secretariat to develop concrete roadmaps for reform in the complex area of rule of law and justice, including specific reforms in local governance, law enforcement, municipal services, judicial services and land settlements.

In addition, about 300 communities will be engaged in government-led rehabilitation efforts, with 25 community spaces rehabilitated for recreational and other productive activities with active participation by FATA’s youth. Over 6,000 men and women will receive short and medium term employment opportunities.

Tracy Vienings, the UNDP Pakistan Deputy Country Director, said:

“After years of fighting and displacement, communities in FATA need all the help we can offer to rebuild. Guided by the Government’s FATA Sustainable Return and Rehabilitation Strategy and with generous assistance from the United Kingdom, UNDP is proud to help them lay the foundations for a prosperous and peaceful future for FATA. The work of the Governors’ Strategic Support Unit will be essential to achieving this objective.”

Joanna Reid, Head of DFID Pakistan, speaking from KP today, said:

As families from the FATA region return to their homes, and try to rebuild their lives, livelihoods and communities, we understand that they need all the support that they can get. That’s why the British High Commission through our development programs are working together with the Government of FATA and UNDP to support the return and rehabilitation of IDPs so they can rebuild their lives and have better access to education, health and economic opportunities.

“The setting up of the Governor’s Strategic Support Unit is an important step, providing technical assistance to help implement Government led reforms in key priority areas, and ensure faster service delivery to where it matters most - the people of FATA.”

Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan, the Governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, said:

“As FATA’s people return to their homes, we are presented with an unprecedented opportunity to plan and implement reforms which will strengthen confidence between communities and governance structures..

“I am proud to launch today the Governor’s Strategic Support Unit which will allow me to monitor the progress of service delivery across FATA, identify the hurdles and propose corrective measures to ensure that all children of FATA have access to quality education, that everyone has access to basic health services and that the people of FATA are given the opportunity to earn a decent living. The work to be carried out in partnership with UNDP and the United Kingdom is an essential contribution to my legacy of increasing transparency and accountability in FATA.”

For more information, contact:

Fatimah Inayet, UNDP Pakistan: +92 51 825 5650 (office), fatimah.inayet@undp.org

Saad Mustafa, DFID Pakistan: + 92 51 201 2580, s-mustafa@dfid.gov.uk

Editorial

Switzerland's glaciers are melting. In less than 40 years, their surface has shrunk by almost 30 percent. Linked directly to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, this relentless retreat can be observed around the globe, impacting negatively on the economy, the environment and society.

As an Alpine country itself, Switzerland has always been engaged in mountain regions, which are too often marginalised, neglected, and afflicted by great poverty. It also conducts projects on the slopes of the highest mountain summits to help communities adapt to the effects of climate change or to prevent natural disasters. This commitment is crucial as the number of food insecure people in mountain areas rose 30 per cent over 12 years, while global hunger figures are declining. The SDC is also active at the international level: it played for example a key part in helping to draft Chapter 13 of Agenda 21, on sustainable mountain development, at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992.

This Global Brief shows specific examples of our activities with regard to glacier melt. You will read how Switzerland is recognised for its expertise in this field, thanks to its universities and to a dynamic and innovative private sector.

I wish you an enjoyable read.

Dominique Favre
Deputy Assistant Director General

Under pressure from the military leadership, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ceded significant constitutional and decision-making authority to the armed forces in 2015, particularly in the areas of national security, foreign policy, and human rights.

Parliament passed a constitutional amendment allowing secret military courts to try terrorism suspects. The military assumed control of the implementation of a national plan to address terrorism, largely without civilian oversight. It was also formally given membership in the Apex committees, provincial committees formed to coordinate local counterterrorism efforts and security.

The military muzzled dissenting and critical voices in nongovernmental organizations and media. The Rangers, a paramilitary force, were given complete control over law enforcement in the city of Karachi, where there were reports of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and torture. The military continued to exercise sway over the province of Balochistan, using torture and arbitrary detention as instruments of coercion.

In December 2014, the Islamist armed group Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, attacked a school in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, leaving 148 dead, almost all of them children. The government responded with a national action plan to fight terrorism, including tactics that violated basic rights. Authorities established the use of military instead of civilian courts in terrorism cases.

The government ended an unofficial moratorium on judicial executions; the death penalty was carried out 296 times in 2015 at time of writing. Abuses by the security forces led thousands of Afghans living in Pakistan to return to Afghanistan or flee elsewhere. Parliament passed vague and overbroad counterterrorism legislation. The government belatedly acknowledged the need to regulate madrassahs (Islamic schools) and disband armed militias operating in the country, but took few steps to do so. The government officially recognized the need to curb incitement to violence and terrorism financing.

Religious minorities faced violent attacks, insecurity, and persecution, largely from Sunni extremist groups—which the government failed to address. The government continued to use blasphemy laws to institutionalize discrimination against religious minorities. The security forces engaged in extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances to counter political unrest in the province of Balochistan and in the port city of Karachi in Sindh province. Torture of suspects by the police remained rampant. Large numbers of journalists were killed or injured in attacks, most of which remain unresolved.

Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement Abuses

Suicide bombings, armed attacks, and killings by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and their affiliates targeted nearly every sector of Pakistani society, including religious minorities and journalists, resulting in hundreds of deaths. In connection with these attacks, military courts sentenced at least 15 people to death in proceedings shrouded in secrecy, giving rise to fair trial concerns. Neither the Pakistani government nor the military articulated any criteria for selection of cases to be tried in military courts, giving the impression of arbitrariness. No independent monitoring of the process was allowed, and the news of death sentences was often given by the Interservices Public Relations, a military communications agency, through social media.

Attacks on Minorities and Sectarian Violence

The government failed to take adequate steps to prevent and respond to deadly attacks on Shia and other religious minorities in 2015. In January, at least 53 people were killed in a bomb blast at a Shia mosque in the city of Shikarpur in Sindh province. Jundullah, a splinter group of the Taliban that has pledged support for the armed extremist group Islamic State (also known as ISIS), claimed responsibility for the attack.

In February, 19 people were killed after Taliban militants stormed a Shia mosque in Peshawar. In March, suicide bombers belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban targeted two churches in the Christian neighborhood of Youhana Abad in Lahore, killing 14. In May, an attack by Jundullah on members of the Ismaili Shia community in Karachi killed 43 people.

The attacks highlighted the threat armed extremist groups to pose to religious minorities, and the government’s failure to apprehend or prosecute perpetrators.

Religious Minorities

At least 19 people remained on death row after being convicted under Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy law; hundreds awaited trial. The majority facing blasphemy charges weremembers of religious minorities, often victimized by these charges as a result of personal disputes.

In February, in a welcome move, Punjab’s provincial judiciary drew up a shortlist of 50 cases of alleged blasphemy in which the accused was found to be “victimized” by inadequate evidence or lack of legal counsel. The provincial government commited to undertake the legal defense of these defendants—some of them suffering from intellectual or psychosocial diabilities—in special “fast track” trials.

In April, the Sindh provincial assembly enacted a law requiring the mandatory psychological examination of any person accused of blasphemy and allowing judicial discretion to reduce the sentences of those convicted of blasphemy whose medical evaluation produce a diagnosis of a “mental disorder.”

Freedom of Expression

Many journalists increasingly practiced self-censorship, fearing retribution from both state security forces and militant groups. Media outlets remained under pressure to avoid reporting on or criticizing human rights violations by the military in counterterrorism operations. The Taliban and other armed groups threatened media outlets and targeted journalists and activists for their work.

In April, Syed Wahidur Rahman, a journalism professor and former journalist, was gunned down in Karachi. Also in April, Sabeen Mahmud, a prominent Pakistani social and human rights activist, was shot dead shortly after hosting an event on Balochistan’s "disappeared people" in Karachi. In June, Baloch journalist Zafarullah Jatak was gunned down in his home in Balochistan’s capital, Quetta.

In September, in Karachi, Aftab Alam, a senior journalist, was gunned down near his home, while Arshad Ali Jaffery, a TV satellite engineer, was killed by three gunmen. Abdul Azam, a journalist, was wounded after being shot at in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2015 in September. The bill included abusive provisions that allow the government to censor online content, criminalize Internet users, and permit the government to access metadata without any form of judicial review or privacy protection. YouTube, banned by the government since September 2012 for hosting “blasphemous content,” remained blocked in 2015.

The Pakistan government forced the international aid agency Save the Children to suspend operations in June and banned the Norwegian Refugee Council. Independent organizations faced increasing pressure and harassment from the government.

The Pakistani government announced the “Policy for Regulation of INGOs in Pakistan” on October 1, 2015. The new regulations require all INGOs to register and obtain prior permission from the Ministry of Interior to carry out any activities in the country and to restrict their operations to specific issues and geographical areas. The ministry is broadly empowered to cancel registrations on grounds of “involvement in any activity inconsistent with Pakistan’s national interests, or contrary to Government policy”—terms that have vague meanings and can be used for political reasons to target critical organizations or individuals.

Balochistan

The security forces continued to unlawfully kill and forcibly disappear suspected Baloch militants and opposition activists in 2015. In January, 13 highly decomposed bodies of ethnic Baloch individuals were found in Khuzdar district. Baloch nationalists and other militant groups also stepped up attacks on non-Baloch civilians. In April, suspected Baloch militants gunned down 20 laborers in Turbat's Gogdan area. In May, 35 people were forced off a bus and kidnapped by members of a militant Baloch nationalist group, the United Baloch Army; 23 of the passengers were killed.

Afghans in Pakistan

The Pakistani government failed to protect Afghans in the country against police extortion, theft, and general harassment in 2015. As a result of threats from local government officials, particularly after the December 2014 Peshawar school attack, increasing numbers of Afghans returned to their country. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), over 50,000 refugees were repatriated to Afghanistan, most of whom had resided in Pakistan for more than 15 years. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted, and Human Rights Watch research found, that many returnees left because of police coercion and abuse and stated that returning to Afghanistan was their only viable option.

Attacks on Health Workers

Taliban and other religious militant groups carried out violent attacks on healthcare workers, mostly women, involved in providing grassroots services. In March, two women health workers and a police guard were killed in Mansehra district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. In May, unidentified militants opened fire on a clinic in Karachi, killing a Shia doctor.

Militants targeted medical providers involved in polio immunization. In February, members of a polio vaccination team were attacked in southwest Pakistan and in Swat. In March, a polio vaccination team was attacked in Bajaur Agency, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.  

Women and Girls

The government took inadequate action to protect women and girls from abuses including rape, murder through so-called honor killings, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriages. According to local groups, hundreds of honor killings took place. In March, Punjab province passed a law setting tougher penalties for those who arrange or conduct child marriages. The law did not, however, raise the age of marriage from 16 to 18, in line with international standards, as Sindh did in 2014. The government’s Council of Islamic Ideology denounced the Punjab reform. The government failed to address the issue of forced conversion to Islam of Hindu and Christian women.

Women were denied the right of vote in various parts of the country. In May, during a parliamentary by-election in Lower Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, none of the eligible 50,000 women in the constituency voted after warnings reportedly broadcast on mosque loudspeakers. Polling stations were guarded by “baton-wielding men,” according to news reports, who blocked the few women who attempted to vote.

Children’s Rights

The Pakistani government failed to pass the promised legislation constituting the National Commission on the Rights of the Child, an independent body to protect and enforce child rights in the country. Attacks on schools and the use of child suicide bombers by the Taliban and affiliated armed extremist groups continued.

Rampant sexual abuse of children was exposed in August, when police uncovered a child pornography racket by a criminal gang that had produced and sold more than 400 videos of girls and boys being sexually abused in Kasur, Punjab. These videos had been filmed over a span of 10 years, affecting 280 child victims.

Death Penalty

The Pakistani government had carried out the death sentences of at least 295 people in 2015 at time of writing. After the December 2014 attack on the school in Peshawar, the Pakistani government first moved to rescind a four-year unofficial moratorium on the death penalty for non-military personnel “in terrorism-related cases.” In early March, the government lifted the death penalty moratorium for all capital crimes, including kidnapping and murder. At the end of the year, an estimated 8,300 prisoners remained on death row, one of the world’s largest populations of prisoners facing execution. Pakistani law mandates capital punishment for 28 offenses, including murder, rape, treason, and blasphemy. Those on death row are often from the most marginalized sections of society.

Pakistani law forbids the use of the death penalty against children. However, in June, Aftab Bahadur, who was allegedly 15 at the time of his alleged offense, was executed. In August, Shafqat Hussain, who was allegedly 14 or 15 years old at the time of his alleged crime, and whose conviction was based on a confession allegedly obtained through torture, was hanged in a Karachi prison.

Key International Actors

After years of disagreement and mistrust, relations with the United States, Pakistan’s largest development and military donor, gradually improved. In March, US Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Pakistani military's operation against militants in the country's northwest, saying the results were "significant," but cautioned that more needed to be done. The US failed to exert any pressure on Pakistan to roll back abusive counterterrorism laws and restrain the injudicious use of death penalty. The US also did not press for a return to the primacy of the civilian government.

Pakistan and China deepened extensive economic and political ties. In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to Pakistan. China and Pakistan signed agreements worth US$28 billion during Xi’s visit, related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The United Nations and the European Union expressed concern over the increasing use of the death penalty and urged the reinstatement of the moratorium. As of October, the UN estimated that the 8,300 people on death row included hundreds who were sentenced for offenses committed as children. In June, the UN high commissioner for human rights noted that Pakistan was the world’s “third-most prolific executioner.”

Historically tense relations between Pakistan and its nuclear rival India further deteriorated in 2015, with both countries accusing each other of facilitating unrest and militancy. Scheduled talks to resolve longstanding disputes over security, territory, and sharing river water resources were stalled.  

Relations with Afghanistan, after displaying some initial signs of stabilizing, returned to hostility and mistrust. The Afghan government accused Pakistan of allowing the “Haqqani network”, an affiliated group of the Taliban, to operate from Pakistan to carry out attacks in Afghanistan. Pakistan maintained that the network had been dismantled.

Statistics and Highlights

 3,810 (2,167 on 29/01; 1,540 on 30/01; 103 on 31/01) refugees and migrants arrived: 3,557 (2,034 on 29/01; on 1,510 30/01; 13 on 31/01) from fYRo Macedonia and 253 (133 on 29/01; 30 on 30/01; 90 on 31/01) from Bulgaria.
-  6,294 (2,634 on 29/01; 1,686 on 30/01; 1,974 on 31/01) asylum seekers departed to Croatia.
- Numbers of refugees arriving dropped on Sunday 31 January, because protesting taxi drivers blocked train tracks in fYRo Macedonia. On Saturday already, taxi drivers in Presevo gathered for a peaceful protested against the new exit arrangements from the Reception Centre, as it restricts their access to asylum seekers.

This bulletin examines trends in staple food and fuel prices, the cost of the basic food basket and consumer price indices for 69 countries in the fourth quarter of 2015 (October to December). The maps on pages 6–7 disaggregate the impact analysis to sub-national level.

Global Highlights

• During Q4-2015, FAO’s global cereal price index fell by a further 15.2 percent year-on-year because of abundant supplies and sluggish demand. The index returned to the level seen before the food price crisis of 2007-08.

• The real price of wheat dropped by eight percent over the last quarter. It fell by more than 25 percent compared with Q4-2014 mainly because of world record production and higher ending stocks.

• The real price of maize remained constant compared with Q3-2015. Despite lower than expected production forecasts for 2015/16, global supplies were comfortable amid above-average closing stocks.

• During Q4-2015, the real price of rice decreased by two percent. As in Q3, prices were 15 percent below 2014 levels. However, global rice supplies may tighten in 2015/16.

• In Q4-2015, the real price of crude oil dropped a further 12 percent compared with Q3-2015 and reached its lowest level in the past eleven years.

• The cost of the minimum food basket increased severely (>10%) during Q4-2015 in nine countries: Burundi, Malawi, Niger, Peru, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Turkey. High increases (5–10%) were seen in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Yemen. In the other monitored countries, the change was low or moderate (<5%).

• Price spikes, as monitored by ALPS (Alert for Price Spikes), were evident in 19 countries, particularly in Ghana, Haiti, India, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Syria (see the map below).3 These spikes indicate crisis levels for the two most important staples in each country, including beans, cassava meal, maize, millet, potatoes, rice, wheat, sorghum and sugar

January 29, Islamabad: Pakistan’s polio eradication initiative (PEI) has been put under the microscope by members of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) in Islamabad this week as they review recent progress made in the fight to eradicate the disease from one of the world’s last reservoirs.

The 2-day meeting drew polio experts from lead implementation partners World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), PEI leadership teams from provinces across Pakistan, senior representatives from across the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and key donors.

TAG Chair Jean Marc Olive said Pakistan colleagues presented TAG with a comprehensive picture of the epidemiological situation across the country, indicating that the initiatives and interventions that are being used show the country is on the right track to end transmission.

“In spite of this, we still have areas that could risk it all. Not only the Kyber-Peshawar-Nahangar corridor as highlighted by the IMB, but in Karachi we have another hub of transmission. We need to put the maximum energy into Karachi.”

“If we increase our sensitivity, move closer to the ground with our interventions and focus more and more on the small scale, Pakistan will make it. I am confident of that.”

He urged the Government of Pakistan to continue pushing for the highest level of political engagement with security forces and the country’s leadership.

The Prime Ministers Focal Point for Polio Eradication Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq thanked the TAG members for their commitment to supporting the Government of Pakistan in the noble fight to end polio. She gave a detailed review of the overall situation including pending questions and challenges the programme is facing.

“One of the programmes striking features has been its ability to translate lessons learnt quickly and efficiently and to apply strategic interventions” she said, “but we honestly believe we are on track to finish the job this year.”

WHO Representative in Pakistan, Michel Thieren said in his opening statement to the delegation that the programme owes it to every child of Pakistan to strive to finish the job.

“What I observe is that we are a programme, which is from the very top, in full charge – knocking on as many doors as we can and we are looking for every single unimmunized child.

“We are financially, politically and technically equipped for the task and we are closer this year than ever before,” he said.

The incoming global polio director of World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Michel Zaffran, who attended the meeting in Islamabad, said he was impressed by the commitment demonstrated by the Government of Pakistan and supporting teams.

“The commitment, the collaboration and the progress that we’ve seen at TAG has been commendable. We realize that the pressure is on and there is still a way to go, but the progress is incredible.”

Positive outlook for 2016 but risk remains

Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, Coordinator of the National Emergency Operation Centre outlined the key areas of concern for the programme identifying the three remaining sanctuaries – the Khyber-Peshawar corridor, Karachi and the Quetta block. Dr Safdar said initiatives like Continuous Community Protected Vaccination (CCPV) targeted at the most difficult to reach children in the highest risk areas of Pakistan, an increase in use of LQAS to monitor performance of campaigns, the strategic shift to focus on tracking and vaccinating missed children and improvements to optimize the performance of supplementary immunization activities and strengthen surveillance has had a significant impact on the programme in 2015.

“CCPV has strengthened micro-planning and stabilized a local, overwhelmingly female workforce in these areas. This community-based workforce in now well motivated, trained and supervised, which is helping maintain access because they enjoy the trust of their communities.”

The programme has also implemented targeted IPV-OPV campaigns within high-risk areas to boost population immunity levels. The remaining 1.1 million doses of IPV will be strategically used in core reservoirs in the first quarter of 2016.

“We know that reaching ZERO in 2016 will require much more from us. We must maintain access to all children, immunize all accessible children, track the virus successfully, avoid complacency to ultimately reach our goal of interrupting transmission,” Dr Rana said.

TAG concluded that the goal of interruption of transmission in 2016 is achievable, but at risk unless there is further reduction in the immunity gaps especially in the core reservoirs.

They cautioned that the most important risk to timely interruption of transmission of poliovirus in Pakistan is Karachi. The city remains a hub for population interactions across Pakistan and Afghanistan, and an amplifier of imported and indigenous virus.

TAG said that a failure to sustain the commitment to polio eradication by government and partners at all levels, a reduction of provision of adequate protection for polio teams and an inability to ensure full immunization of all children, especially in core reservoir areas will derail the attempts to eradicate in 2016.

TAG delivered 22 recommendations that the Pakistan programme focus on including:

• further strengthening the coordination and collaboration with Afghanistan around synchronised campaigns and with the tOPV-bOPV switch in 2016;
  
• intensifying political commitment, including greater involvement of Commissioners; strengthening the focus on core reservoirs and identifying specific Action-Plans for poorly performing districts;
  
• focusing efforts on delivering high-quality immunization activities in the next 4 months everywhere, with particular focus on areas with evidence of poliovirus transmission, especially Karachi, Killa Abdullah, Khyber, Peshawar and Sukkur;
  
• improved community surveillance and environmental surveillance will be important for the detection of transmission over the coming months;
  
• lessons learnt from the CCPV experience should be used to improve performance in non-CCPV areas;
  
• TAG asked that Pakistan begin preparations for the 2016-2017 National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) in the coming months and be prepared to reconvene mid-2016 to review and track progress.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• 22 so far tested positive for infection at allied hospitals
• Earthquake shakes Swat, adjoining areas
• Govt taking steps to counter environmental pollution: Ministry
• Pakistan ranks eight among countries affected by climate change
• Pakistan needs 20% more forest area to ensure green environment
• Pakistan, Iran agree to enhance joint border supervision
• Rs 1 trillion allocated for FATA TDPs
• Zehri urges Afghan refugees to get themselves registered
• 230 institutions sealed, 53 warned against gaps in security -Terror groups in FATA dismantled, says report
• Navy increases surveillance at Gwadar Port
• Boundary with Afghanistan: Pakistan to improve border monitoring
• I don't believe in extension and will retire on due date: Army Chief
• Power breakdown hits most of Karachi
• Transfer of government hospitals to NGOs delayed
• New security SOP issued for educational institutions in capital
• FBISE introduces online application-filing system

SIALKOT: The Bomb Disposal Squad on Sunday defused a high intensity anti-tank landmine near bordering Village Phookaliyaan-Bajwat along the Sialkot Working Boundary. Locals found it while ploughing the fields and they informed the police.

The BDS said the 10-pound rusting landmine was Indian made. It was used by India during the 1965 Indo-Pak War. It could not explode and was still alive.

DEFENCE MINISTER: Federal Minister for Defence, Water and Power Khwaja Muhammad Asif has said that the anti-terror operation by the Pak Army would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist in the country.

He was addressing a meeting of the elected representatives and party workers here on Sunday.

The minister said the government was committed to weed out terrorism from Pakistan, as the armed forces had been playing their excellent role in uprooting militancy.Khwaja Asif said the nation stood united against terrorism and was ready to sacrifice even their lives to eliminate terrorism.Earlier speaking to the participants in an open court held at PML-N House on Paris Road, the minister said the government was making all-out efforts to raise the living standard of the people by ensuring smooth provision of all basic facilities at their doorstep.

He said the PML-N was gradually fulfilling its political promises in the larger national interest, besides doing ‘politics of principles.’

He listened to complaints and problems of the people and issued orders on various applications.

Local MPAs Muhammad Ikram, Rana Liaquat Ali, Manshaullah Butt, Shabeena Majeed Wyne and local PML-N leaders were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2016

Executive Summary

The Government of Pakistan has been using cash transfer programmes (CTP) in emergency relief and recovery operations since the 2005 earthquake. More recently, the Government has implemented a wide range of cash initiatives for those affected by the 2010 mega floods and to support people displaced by the complex emergency in FATA. Other actors including UN agencies, civil society partners and the private sector also use CTP. Currently, CTP initiatives in Pakistan are driven by the mandate and opportunities of individual organizations. There is a lack of coordination and enabling framework to support CTP in emergencies.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) organized a two-day workshop on Cash Transfer Programming in emergencies on 4 and 5 November 2015. Participants included representatives of 38 organizations including from the Government (NDMA, PDMAs, State Bank, SSN/BISP and NADRA), the private sector (telecommunication companies, commercial banks and financial software companies) and humanitarian partners (donors, UN agencies and civil society). During the workshop participants mapped Pakistan’s experience in CTP highlighting gaps and best practices. Group discussions were used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of, and opportunities for, CTP in preparedness, response and post-disaster recovery in Pakistan.

Key recommendations:

1. Establish a forum/platform for dialogue between key stakeholders including the Government, private sector, and humanitarian partners.

2. Develop national policy guidelines for the implementation of cash transfer programmes.

3. Form a national technical taskforce/advisory board on cash transfer programming in emergencies.

Drought Vulnerability Index in Sindh - Southern Sindh prone to moderate droughts. - Before this drought, severe drought years were 1969, 1974, 1987 and 2002.

Exposure to Drought - Drought Started in 2013 / Ended with the heavy monsoon 2015, but rainfall deficiency resumed in October. - Most severe in the bare and desert areas of Tharparkar and Jamshoro. - Droughts have more disastrous consequences when pressure on water supply is high and institutional management capacity is low. - Drought was most severe in Western and South Eastern Regions, two already very arid areas. - Drought was mediated by access to tube well irrigation in the West. - Drought was mostly moderate in the East. - Most of the irrigated zone was spared by the meteorological drought, but the hydrological drought is largely determined upstream. 20% of households surveyed in the irrigated zone (mostly tail ends) experienced extreme water scarcity.

The month saw an intensification of Yemen’s war, amid heightened regional rivalries between Saudi Arabia and Iran complicating prospects for peace. Political tensions increased in Haiti, Guinea-Bissau and Moldova, where protests over endemic corruption and a lack of confidence in the government could escalate. In Africa, Boko Haram’s deadly attacks increased in northern Cameroon, and Burkina Faso was hit by an unprecedented terror attack. On the nuclear front, in East Asia, North Korea’s announcement that it had carried out a successful hydrogen bomb test was roundly condemned, while nuclear-related sanctions on Iran were rolled back in accordance with the July 2015 deal.

Snapshot 27 January – 2 February 2016

Boko Haram in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad: 86 people were killed and 62 injured, with 15 missing after Boko Haram set fire to Dalori, near Maiduguri in Borno state. The past week also saw attacks in Chibok that left 13 dead and 30 injured. 40 civilians were reported dead after Cameroonian troops announced they were carrying out a search for BH militants in the area. In Cameroon, 52 people were killed in BH attacks in January. In Chad, two suicide bombings in Lac region left three dead and 56 wounded.

Namibia: The drought that has been affecting Namibia since the first months of 2015 is worsening, as several reservoirs are drying up. Over 380,000 people are reportedly in need of emergency food assistance and almost a quarter of the population suffers from food insecurity. Widespread loss of livestock has been recorded in pastoral areas.

Turkey: Stability has deteriorated in recent months as fighting between government forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party has intensified. An estimated 200,000 people have been internally displaced in by conflict and military operations since July 2015, and 240 civilians have been killed. At the same time, Turkey is hosting over 2.5 million Syrian, Iraqi and other refugees, straining its response capacity.

Updated: 02/02/2016. Next update: 09/02/2016.

See the Crisis Overview 2015: Humanitarian Trends and Risks 2016, ACAPS' overview of long-term trends in humanitarian needs for major crises, and scenarios outlining their potential evolution in 2016.

Global Emergency Overview Web Interface

General Situation during January 2016

Forecast until mid-March 2016

Desert Locust breeding continued during January in north and northwest Mauritania and in adjacent areas of Western Sahara where locusts formed small groups. Limited ground control operations were carried out in these areas.

Breeding is likely to continue during the forecast period, which may cause a further increase in locust numbers and the formation of hopper and adult groups. As temperatures increase, some adults may move to spring breeding areas south of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco and Algeria.

Only low numbers of locusts persisted in parts of the winter breeding areas along both sides of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in Sudan, Eritrea Saudi Arabia, Yemen and northern Somalia. Unless further rains fall, breeding should decline in these areas. The situation remained calm in southwest Asia.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Tue, 2 Feb 2016 05:00 GMT

By Ummul Baneen

ISLAMABAD, Feb 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For years, Fatima would wake up in the morning and dream of going to school but her hopes for an education were crushed.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

KARACHI: Sindh health officials have confirmed the death of a total of 143 children aged up to five years in Tharparkar district because of malnutrition and other causes since October last year.

In a report compiled by the health department, the death toll during the last month has been put at 40.

The official figures show that 31 children died in October, 28 in November and 44 in December last year.

The report said that a total of 2,599 children were admitted to hospitals and dispensaries in the districts over the past four months.

Besides, more than 28,000 children were examined at the outpatient facilities.

MITHI: Meanwhile, unofficial but reliable sources insisted that the death toll during the month of January alone was a little higher than the official tally of four months.

They reported the death of seven more children in the district on Tuesday taking the toll in 33 days to 155.

Five of the seven deaths were reported by their parents from Sonder, Gundi Sama and Ouner villages near Nagarparkar and Malkan village adjacent to Chhachhro town while a two-year-old girl and a newborn died at the Mithi Civil Hospital on Tuesday.