Mothers of the disappeared

She struggled for 20 years to trace her son, Nazir Ahmad. On September 1, 2009, Mugali Begum died without seeing her lone son.

Her struggle began on September 1990 when Nazir, a school teacher, was allegedly picked up by security forces on his way to school in Srinagar.

Mugali was divorced by her husband few months after her marriage. She lived alone with Nazir and fought singly to trace him after his disappearance.

“She died without her dream fulfilled, but we carry on her struggle,” said Parveena Ahanger, President of Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons.

Parveena’s son Javed Ahmad is missing since 20 years. In August 1990, Javed was allegedly arrested by NSG commandos. When Javed did not return, Parveena began searching for her son.

“There is not a single place in Kashmir where I did not look for him,” Parveena said.

During her hunt for Javed, Parveena came across several other women like her whose sons had gone missing. In 1994, she founded Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP), which has over 3,000 members.

“We all members of APDP have same suffering, same cause,” Parveena says, “We are fighting together.”

When 70 year old Taja Begum lost her husband, she stood strong to bring up her four sons and four daughters.

But even after braving all pains for bringing up her children, she stands alone today with no one to even wipe her tears.

“When my husband died, my children were toddlers. I did not lose hope and stood strong to give best upbringing to my children. But my efforts fetched nothing and today I am all alone,” says Taja Begum from Handwara district.

Taja worked hard to support her family and nurture her children.

As her sons grew up and began to earn, Taja was much relieved of her burden.

“But least did I know of the lifelong pain I had to endure,” she adds.

The calm of her life was shattered in January 1996 when a few gunmen barged into her house and asked her three sons – Muhammad Ramzaan, Muhammad Amin and Ghulam Nabi – to accompany them.

For the whole night her sons did not return. In the morning, the bodies of two of them were found in the paddy fields while Ghulam Nabi was returned home.

The tragedy did not end here. Ghulam Nabi soon became the victim of disappearance in 1996. Ironically Taja’s only surviving son, Mushtaq Ahmad had been crippled after being hit by a bullet in 1997.

Exhausted with her decades of struggle, Jameela Begum’s dream is now to see her son’s name inscribed on memorial which APDP wishes to build for disappeared persons. Her son, Mohammad Irfan, is missing since 1994. “He had gone to the market to buy me medicines. He never came back,” laments Jameela.

Irfan, Jameela’s lone son, was then a student of class 8, aged 14 years. “He was my lone son. I am fighting alone and supporting my family as my husband is bedridden.”

The story of Jaana Begum is no different either. Once a mother of seven sons, she is left with three.

“My family has been devastated,” Jaana Begum says in breaking voice.

Jaana Begum lost her four sons and husband during the past 22 years of conflict. In 1997, her son Lateef Ahmad was allegedly shot dead by unidentified gunmen. In 1998, her two other sons got killed. In 2001, another son, Sharief -ud-din went missing when he left home for work and did not return.

According to the APDP there are about 10,000 missing persons in the Valley. However in view of contradictory figures given by the government from time to time, no authentic official figures exist.

During the recently concluded autumn session of the of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly government revealed said there are 2305 persons missing till July 2012. In 182 cases, First Information Report (FIR) has been filed, ex-gratia relief has been paid in 729 cases, benefit of compassionate appointment has been given in 58 cases while cash lieu of government jobs has been paid in 65 cases.

But in the year 2002, the National Conference government revealed 3184 persons had disappeared from 1989 till 2002. In February in 2003, the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Syed, had informed the State Assembly that 3,744 person went missing between 2000 and 2002, 1,553 persons disappeared in 2000, 1,586 went missing in 2001 and 605 in 2002.

Addition to the contradictions, Bhim Singh from Jammu Kashmir Panthers Party said 4,000 persons had disappeared in the Valley since the commencement of conflict in 2004.

In 2005, the Congress government said 693 cases of disappearances were registered.

On January 2, 2007, the state government admitted in the Legislative Assembly that 1,017 youth were missing since 1990 which included 433 from Baramulla and153 from Anantnag.

In 2009, official figures released in the State Assembly revealed 3,429 had disappeared from 1990 till 2009 with only 110 missing after arrests by security forces.

During the 2011 Assembly session, the government revealed that 1,378 missing reports were filed.

While the hundreds remain missing, APDP demands setting up of an independent committee to conduct probes into the disappearances and urge India to ratify International Convention on Enforced Disappearances. APDP holds monthly sit-in regularly to protest against the disappearances and demand justice.

Human rights activist and coordinator Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) Khurram Parvaiz told Dawn that an international probe must be ordered to investigate cases of disappearances.

“There are over 8,000 disappearances cases in the state,” Parvaiz said. “It is a wide spread phenomenon.”

He added that justice has not been done in even a single case. “We want to know who are behind the disappearances so that justice is done.”

Parvaiz Imroz, a human rights lawyer, added that investigation into disappearances is need of the hour.

“Disappearances are a major issue and government has to act. We have to engage international organisations for the investigations but unfortunately the government is not allowing international organisations to intervene,” Imroz added.

For Parveena, the struggle is life-long. “We shall not rest till our death.”

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://kashmirheadlines.net/02062013-ND-mothers-of-the-disappeared-983.aspx

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Landslide Kills One, Leaves Five Missing in Central Java

A landslide triggered by heavy rains in Central Java killed one person and left five others missing, an emergency official said on Wednesday.

“The landslide happened today, Wednesday morning in Plompong village, Brebes, Central Java. Eight people who were working in a cornfield were buried in the incident,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told the Jakarta Globe.

One victim was found dead while two others sustained serious injuries. Five more victims remain buried under the mud, but Sutopo said the rescue effort had been suspended and would resume on Thursday morning.

“We had to stop the rescue because of the heavy rain and it was getting very dark at the location,” he explained.

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia, which is in the midst of its rainy season.

Heavy rain in Jakarta last month caused more than 30 deaths and forced tens of thousands of capital residents to flee their inundated homes.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/landslide-kills-one-leaves-five-missing-in-central-java/570030

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Indian soldiers to be identified through their DNA

Formally announced in February 2012, the DNA profiling centre and data bank at Pune’s Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) is finally set to take off by mid-2013.

The centre which is to be one of the handful DNA profiling centres of the country is expected to come handy to establish identity of defence personnel, especially in case of unforeseen tragic events when bodies are found in mutilated/charred conditions.

Air Marshal DP Joshi, director general, Armed Forces Medical Services, said that the centre had started DNA extraction, sequencing and storage from November 22, 2012.

“Initially we want to do a 100-odd samples of DNA extraction to arrive at a sort of standardisation of the entire programme. We also have to establish the authenticity and accuracy of the processes and establish that it matches the relevant standards.

"Hence, we are getting an expert PhD scientist with expertise in DNA extraction from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO),” said Maj Gen Velu Nair, dean, AFMC. According to senior AFMC officials, the project is stuck in legal hurdles.

An official said that when the lab was inaugurated in 2012, permission was sanctioned to extract and establish DNA. But later it was realised that legal ramifications had not been discussed.

“For example, if there is an untoward incident and DNA bank is used to establish identity of the soldier, will this evidence stand in the court of law under the Indian Evidence Act? For that the authenticity of processes of DNA extraction, tissue typing in establishing identity need to be approved.

"An application has been sent in this regard to the Ministry of Health which in turn wrote to Ministry of Law and Justice. We are waiting for the approval before starting large scale DNA extractions,” said the official.

Meanwhile air force officials have already asked AFMC officials to create a DNA bank of all its personnel.

“We have received the request from air force. We have the technology, the manpower and expertise. Once the approval is received, we can start the DNA repository and can request for funds based on requirement,” said Joshi.

DNA profiling is accepted as the most advanced and reliable method of establishing identity of living individuals as well as dead bodies and body remnants. DNA can be extracted from small portions of any body tissue, including bones, teeth and hair.

These can be recovered from bodies that have been subjected to severe mutilation and destruction as well as decomposition. Therefore, positive identification of such body parts can be established, provided DNA profiling of the individual is carried out during life and the information is stored in a data bank/repository, to cater to such unforeseen tragic eventuality.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://www.dnaindia.com/mobile/report.php?n=1796897

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Powerful Solomon Islands earthquake triggers small tsunami, at least 5 dead

A tsunami in the south Pacific triggered by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake has devastated coastal villages and killed five people in the Solomon Islands, with concerns for hundreds more in outlying islands.

The centre of the quake was off the Santa Cruz Islands, a cluster of remote islands that form part of the Solomon Islands, north-east of Australia.

Two waves with a height of three feet washed away houses in four villages and left at least five people dead, including three women, a man and a boy believed to be 10 to 12 years old.

Officials said hundreds of people live in the villages but authorities are yet to report from the devastated areas, including the affected villages and some smaller islands.

“At this stage, authorities are still trying to establish the exact number and extent of damage,” said a government spokesman, George Herming. “Communication to Santa Cruz Island is difficult due to the remoteness of the island.”

The hospital at Lata, the main town in the Santa Cruz Islands, has begun receiving casualties and expects more in the coming hours. The town’s main airport was flooded but the town’s 5000 residents were believed to have had enough time to reach higher ground.

“We are yet to receive information from three villages along the coast or other islands in the province,” the hospital’s director of nursing, Augustine Bilve, told The Daily Telegraph.

“Soon after the earthquake we heard the siren for the tsunami. There was no time for people to move to higher ground.”

The quake struck at around midday and prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii to issue a tsunami warning for several Pacific states and a tsunami watch for Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia which was later cancelled. The agency said the quake struck at a depth of almost 18 miles.

The United States Geological Survey recorded at least 23 aftershocks with a magnitude of between 5.0 and 6.6 near the Solomon Islands. A tsunami of around 20 inches reportedly hit New Caledonia and a small wave also hit Japan and Papua New Guinea.

In Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, residents fled to higher ground and spent hours looking out to sea for sign of further waves.

“People are still standing on the hills outside of Honiara just looking out over the water, trying to observe if there is a wave coming in,” Mr Herming said.

In 2007, a tsunami following an 8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 50 people in the Solomon Islands and left thousands homeless.

The nation is in the so-called Ring of Fire – a volatile region that stretches about 25,000 miles around the Pacific Ocean and is subject to almost daily earthquakes and frequent volcanic eruptions.

The interconnected circle of fault lines is positioned on a weak line in the Earth’s crust and has featured most of the deadliest quakes in history, including the 2004 quake in Indonesia that triggered a tsunami which killed more than 220,000 people across the region. Other quakes along the ring’s fault lines include the devastating 2011 tremor off Japan which killed 19,000 people and caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/solomonislands/9851588/Powerful-Solomon-Islands-earthquake-triggers-small-tsunami.html

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Recovery of Great Hanshin survivors can give Tohoku victims strength

As we approached the 18th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Earthquake that took 6,434 lives, I met with some 50 bereaved family members. In the years since the Jan. 17, 1995 disaster, some had gone on to forge new lives with work and marriage, while others had experienced divorce and layoffs. But what they all had in common was concern and goodwill for the victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The message, "You don't have to try so hard when everything is just too much," was one that I was asked to pass on to the victims of the triple disasters in the Tohoku region from many of the victims of the Hanshin earthquake. Through my reporting, I have become convinced that the many smiles that have returned to the 1995 quake survivors will bring a glimmer of hope to those suffering in Tohoku.

Hoping to help survivors of the 2011 disasters envision their futures, my colleagues and I worked on a series entitled, "18 nengo no watashi" (Me, 18 years later), tracking down survivors of the 1995 disaster who had appeared in the Mainichi Shimbun at the time, armed with copies of the original articles and photos. Here, I introduce two families whose stories made a deep impression on me but did not make it into the series.

One family appeared in the Osaka morning edition of Jan. 18, 1995, the day following the Hanshin earthquake. An article under the headline "Station vicinity burnt to the ground" described the devastation in Kobe's Nada Ward, accompanied by a photo of a dazed woman and her young son, wrapped in a comforter against the cold, near a collapsed apartment building. The photo had been taken the afternoon of the previous day, after the deaths of the woman's 7-year-old and 11-year-old sons had been confirmed.

Upon visiting the family at their new home that I'd located through information gathered on the grapevine, the woman's husband answered the door. He had been on his way to work when the quake took place at 5:46 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1995. Rushing home, he pulled his two older sons from under their collapsed building. His wife clung to the bodies of the boys, wrapped in blankets and laid on the ground, as she cried out their names.

Still, he said, the family didn't lose hope. "We decided we'd live our lives to the fullest for our two boys." Their surviving son, who was three at the time of the quake, became a dedicated judo wrestler in elementary and junior high school. Now 21, he's flung himself into his part-time job. The man's wife is also working a part-time job. "We're all doing well," he said with a smile.

An article published in the Jan. 26, 1995 morning edition, meanwhile, highlighted the birth of a new life in Nada Ward, which had seen many deaths. A photo showed a newborn baby with his mother, who was quoted saying that she wanted to give her son a name that would guide him to become "a strong boy who values life."

On my visit to her home in the Hyogo Prefecture city of Sanda, the woman looked at the article with nostalgia as she recounted the graphic details of the day of the quake. Because she had been at risk for premature delivery, she was scheduled for medical tests on Jan. 17, 1995. Bodies of the dead were carried in one after another as she waited for her doctor, who was busy tending to the injured. Running out of space, the bodies were laid out in the hallways with blankets covering just their faces and upper bodies. It was when the woman saw a mother throwing herself on the body of her dead son and calling his name repeatedly that she began to have contractions.

Her son, who was born in an environment not unlike a field hospital, was named Yuki, meaning "overflowing hope." I was unable to meet him because as a senior in high school, he was busy studying for college entrance exams. Still, I was moved by the hopes and dreams entrusted to him in his name and his mother's assurances that he was well.

On the night of Jan. 16 this year, the eve of 18th anniversary memorial services that were set to take place, survivors of both the Great Hanshin Earthquake and the Tohoku disasters came together at Higashiyuenchi Park in Kobe's Chuo Ward. Those who had been struck by the disasters in Tohoku said they felt encouraged by the stories of those who had made strides in the 18 years since their tragedy.

Hiroshi Matsuda, 52, who lived in Kobe's Nagata Ward at the time of the 1995 quake that killed his wife and daughter, told Mikiko Asanuma, 49, a resident of the Iwate Prefecture city of Rikuzentakata who lost her 25-year-old son to the 2011 tsunami, "Be patient. When it's too much, stand still."

Following the 1995 quake, Matsuda quit his job and at one point holed himself up in his temporary housing unit. It wasn't until two years ago that he was finally able to visit a memorial monument at the park in which the names of his wife and daughter have been engraved.

At Higashiyuenchi Park, the event participants arranged bamboo lanterns in the shape "3.11," and held a moment of silence at 2:46 p.m., the time when the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. In tears, Asanuma told the survivors of the Hanshin disaster, "I want to keep in step with you, and I hope that you will watch over us."

There are some things that only those who have experienced them can share. Hopefully there will come a day when Asanuma and other survivors of the Tohoku disasters will experience a recovery of the heart, with the recovery of the Hanshin survivors as their guiding "flames of hope." The survivors of the 1995 disaster always have the victims of the 2011 disasters in their thoughts.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20130206p2a00m0na010000c.html

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33 dead as rain lashes Khyber Pakhunkhwa, Punjab

Widespread rain and snowfall claimed 33 lives, 25 of them in Khyber Pakhunkhwa, in the country on Tuesday. In addition to the deaths, 40 people were injured across KPK and the tribal areas.

In some hilly areas, people took refuge in mosques. The heavy downpour has been lashing most parts of the country for two days. Seven persons were reported killed in Jaswant Singh after roofs of several homes caved in. One person was killed and three injured after the roof of a hotel collapsed in Pindi Bhattian.

Two girls were killed while their parents and two brothers sustained injuries in a roof collapse at Pakha Ghulam village in Peshawar.An official of the Rescue 1122 said six persons, who were buried under the debris, were shifted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where sisters Sabiha and Hajra succumbed to their injuries while their parents and brothers were treated.

A child was killed and four persons injured in Yousafabad on the Dilazak Road in Peshawar when the roof of a house collapsed. The Rescue 1122 officials and locals shifted the wounded persons to the LRH.

In Haripur, six members of a family were swept away by gushing water in a seasonal stream in the Talokar locality.

The locals said Shah Zeb, Abdullah and Saad were going home from a local mosque when they were swept away by flash floods. Arshad Mehmood, his wife, son Shafiq and daughter-in-law were also swept away when they tried to rescue their children. However, one of the men was rescued.

Many homes in various areas of the district were destroyed in the rain, which continued for the third consecutive day.

Meanwhile, lightning struck the Jamia Masjid in Akrila in Abbottabad. All mountainous areas in Balakot tehsil were cut off from the country.

In Landikotal, four persons, including a woman and minor, were killed as the roof of a house collapsed due to a heavy downpour in the Ghariza area in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency.

Batin Khan, an Afghan national, was at home with his family when the roof collapsed and buried them alive. People rushed to the site and retrieved the bodies from the debris.

The dead were identified as Batin Khan, wife, brother Ghaljay, and Ghaljay’s 12-year-old son.

In Takht Bhai, a woman was killed and her three children seriously injured in a roof collapse in the limits of Takht Bhai Police Station.

The roof of a room at the house of Mohammad Shoaib, located in Shaheen Mohallah in Mazdoorabad, caved in under heavy rain.

As a result, Safiha died on the spot while his two sons Ma’az, and Naveed and daughter Sakina sustained injuries.

The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Mardan.

In another incident, roof of a house in Parkho village caved in, injuring Mohammad Hassan. He was transported to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Takht Bhai where his condition was stated to be stable.

In Nowshera, a child was killed and others injured when their house collapsed.

The sources said mud-house of Darvesh caved in due to heavy rain. His minor daughter Sadda was killed while Darvesh, his wife, and three other children Nadia, Aziz and Umair sustained critical injuries. The injured were taken to hospital in Peshawar.

In Swabi, two minor brothers were killed and their eight family members injured when roof of a mud-house collapsed due to heavy rain at the Gandaf Afghan refugee camp.

Owner of the house, Sher Zada, who was injured in the mishap, said they were asleep when the roof suddenly collapsed at midnight. He said the roof was dripping as it had weakened due to the torrential rain.

The neighbours rushed to rescue those trapped under the rubble, but the two youngsters had already died.

The injured were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in Swabi.

The dead have been identified as Musa Khan, 8, and his brother Mohammad Daud Khan, 11. The injured included Sher Zada, Mubeen Khan, Ismail Khan, Ibrahim Khan, Parveena Begum, Rukhmeena Begum, Nadia Begum and Zarmeena Begum.

In Karak, three women were killed and 14 others sustained injuries in rain related incidents.

A room at the house of Niaz Mohammad caved in due to rain in Sarki Lawagher area in Takht-e-Nusarti tehsil, burying seven people.

Locals rescued the trapped persons after hectic efforts and shifted them to the District Headquarters Hospital in Karak.

An injured woman Ameera Begum succumbed to her injuries at hospital while Niaz Mohammad and his wife Raham Jana, three daughters Farzana, Muhtaj Bibi and Fatima Bibi, two sons Hidayatullah and Bilal Ahmad were being treated.

In the second incident, a room in the house of Sanaullah collapsed due to rain in Kanda Karak. His wife, three daughters and two sons seriously injured in the mishap.

They were pulled out of the rubble by the locals and shifted to District Headquarters Hospital in Karak.

Sanaullah’s wife died at hospital and his three daughters and two sons were being treated.

Three persons were trapped under debris when house of Siraj Khan collapsed in Mardankhel area in Banda Daud Shah tehsil.

They were retrieved from the debris by the local people and shifted to hospital where Sirag’s wife died of her injuries.

Dozens of rooms and boundary walls in Bahaderkhel, Charpara, Shamshaki, Matoor, Gurguri Eidalkhel and other areas collapsed and dozens of goats and sheep died in these incidents.

In Bisham, five persons, three of them from a family, were feared dead in snowfall-related incidents in Shangla district.

Three family members were on their way to Amnavi Malikkhel from Malam Jabba when their vehicle was hit by an avalanche. Rozi Mohammad, Fazal Hayat and Shahid Ali fell into a gorge and were buried under a heap of snow. Local people have launched rescue work.

Mujeebur Rehman was killed when a jeep skidded off the road near Lahore Nala in Bisham while another person Ghazi Khan died when he fell off the roof of his home, removing snow.

The power supply to the district was disconnected as power pylons in many areas fell due to heavy snowfall.

Around five feet snowfall was recorded in Shangla Top, Yakh Tangi, Ulandar Ajmir and Shahpur valley. Some of the area including Mera, Martung, Dandai and Bisham which had not received snow during the last 15 years also witnessed snowfall.

In Charsadda, A woman died and two others injured in a roof collapse in Gandheri area in Tangi tehsil.

Daughter-in-law of Ghani Bacha died while his wife and daughter sustained injuries.

The injured were retrieved from the debris and taken to Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Tangi where their condition was stated to be stable.

In Lakki Marwat, rain continued for the third consecutive day, blocking most of link roads.

In Mansehra, main roads in upper parts of Hazara were blocked as heavy rain and snowfall continued in the district.

Karakoram Highway was blocked at Dobair area in Kohistan due to the landsliding and snowfall, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

In Mingora, rain and snowfall resulted in the drop of the temperature to below zero.

Tourist places in the valley including Kalam, Malam Jabba, Madyan, Bahrain, Osho, Mataltan and Marghuzar received six feet snowfall lowering the temperature to below zero.

These places were cut off from the rest of the country when all roads were covered with snow. The water level in Swat River increased and the people living on the banks of the river started shifting to other places due to danger of floods.

Several houses collapsed in Bahrain Khwazakhela, Barikot and in Saidu Sharif due to heavy rain and snowfall, burying cattle. However, no loss of human life was reported.In Kohat, a train was stranded when avalanche hit the track in Mankor.

An official, Javed Khan, said a Kohat-bound train coming from Rawalpindi got stranded near Mankor area when an avalanche fell on the railway track.He said the officials reached the spot and started rescue operation.

Kalaya also received widespread rain and snowfall for the third consecutive day.The unabated rain and snowfall created food shortage in Dabori, Ghalanjo and Mamozai tehsil besides blocking roads in different parts of the tribal region. The heavy rain and snowfall also caused power suspension.

Shahi Khatta, the main drainage in Peshawar, was overflowing and caused hardships to the dwellers. The most affected areas included Gulbahar, Hashtnagri, Shabistan, Karimpura, Ramdas, Qissa Khwani, Khyber Bazaar, Rampura Gate, Charsadda Road, Kohat Road, Board Bazaar, Faqirabad, Dilazak Road, Zaryab Colony, Nishtarabad, Sethi Town and the Grand Trunk Road.

The district government has established a disaster management cell to respond quickly in case of emergency, Peshawar Municipal Corporation Administrator Javed Amjad said.

According to the Met Office, Peshawar received 20 millimetres rain during the last 24 hours and 120 during the last three days. There was forecast of more rain during next 24 hours.

Heavy snowfall has led to closure of all link roads in Ghazar, Gilliat, Murree and upper parts of Kashmir adding to miseries of the commuters. Residents of these areas have been kept indoors due to harsh weather.

As per Met Office, 15 millimeter rain was recorded in Dipalpur during the last 12 hours, 47 mm in Islamabad, 43 mm in Kakul, 40 mm in Garhi Dupatta and 35 mm in Para Chinar and Balakot.

Cherat crossed the ever-highest record of 148 mm rain. Saidu Sharif received 138 mm rain, Risalpur 136 mm, Lower Dir 107 mm, Rawal Kot 95 mm, and Mianwali 51 mm.

Hilly areas are covered with white canopy of snow. Malam Jabba received 3.5-feet snow, and Kalam three feet. Snowfall continued on the second consecutive day in Skardu.

Key highways leading to Muzaffarabad, Rawal Kot and Punjab were closed due to land sliding. Met Office said that Islamabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Peshawar, Kohat and Malakand are likely to receive rainfall in the next 12 hours.

For the next 24 hours, it forecast rain in Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Upper Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir, and snowfall in Malakand, Hazara and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Isolated rain is expected in southern parts of Punjab, upper Sindh and northeast Balochistan during the next 24 hours.

A strong western disturbance is affecting most parts of the country and is likely to persist for two-three days.

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-20763-33-killed-as-rain-snowfall-continue-to-play-havoc

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4 more Bangladeshis among 22 dead in UAE crash

The United Arab Emirates says four more Bangladeshi expatriate workers have been identified among the 22 killed in Monday’s road crash in that country.

It was previously reported that there were 16 Bangladeshis among the 22 victims of the road accident.

But Lt Col Latiful Hoq Kazmi, a consular officer in the Abu Dhabi embassy, told bdnews24.com on Wednesday that four more Bangladeshis have been identified amongst the dead.

There was an Indian and an Egyptian among the 22 who died in the accident, he said. The rest 20 victims are from Bangladesh.

Three of these four Bangladeshis have now been identified as Faruk Hossain, son of Monir Hossain of Laxmipur’s Kamalnagar, Nurul Alam, son of Aminul Haq of Kanchannagar of Chittagong’s Fatikchhari upazila, Mohammad Khorshed Alam, son of Mohammad Idris of North Satra of chittagong’s Rauzan upazila.

Another dead body could not be identified. Kazmi said it could of Masud Rana, brother of another deceased Khorshed Alam.

Asked when the bodies would be brought back home, Kazmi said, “[The UAE] police will take five working days for their investigation. We’ve had talks with Bangladesh Biman and hope to send the bodies back home after police probe completes.”

Wednesday 6 February 2013

http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/02/06/4-more-bangladeshis-among-22-dead-in-uae-crash

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70 years later, Stalingrad still gives up its war dead

Every weekend, Denis Deryabkin and his friends go out armed with metal detectors and other tools of their trade. Yet it is not treasure they seek. Abandoned beneath the ground for decades lies something far more distressing: the bodies of heroes who died in a special kind of hell.

Seventy years after the battle that changed the course of the Second World War came to its bloody climax, the earth of Stalingrad is still giving up its dead.

More than one million soldiers perished in this southern Russian city after Adolf Hitler’s march into the Soviet heartland ground to a halt in a wasteland of fire and rubble. With the iron will of Josef Stalin behind them, soldiers of the Red Army died in their droves, fighting desperately to halt the Nazi assault on the city curled along the west bank of the Volga.

After five months of carnage, the Russians managed to crush the German Sixth Army, breaking the back of Hitler’s attempt to seize the Soviet Union and secure a route to the oilfields of the Caucasus.

Last weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin flew to the city — later renamed Volgograd — to join a military parade that commemorated seven decades since final victory on Feb 2, 1943. It was the day that ended the siege of Hitler’s army in the strategic industrial city — and the start of the long retreat to Berlin and final defeat for the Nazis.

Putin arrived in a wave of patriotism — 50,000 locals signed a petition in recent weeks calling for the “Hero City” to be named Stalingrad again — and a fresh attempt to identify those who died.

Deryabkin, 38, a project manager at a tobacco factory, goes out with other volunteers every weekend to search for the remains of Soviet soldiers in the wheat fields and broken steppe to the west of the city. His group alone finds 200 bodies a year.

Clothes have long since rotted away, but helmets, weapons and bones remain. Some servicemen carried a small plastic capsule containing their details on a scrap of paper.

Not long ago, Deryabkin found just such a capsule on a soldier who had been shot dead through his helmet.

“If am I killed, please tell my wife and parents,” the young man had scrawled.

Miraculously, Deryabkin tracked down the man’s 97-year-old wife, and his remains were moved to a cemetery. Until seven years ago, when Russia’s ministry of defence began to collect data on war dead, many relations were unable to find out where their loved ones fell or were buried. Now a Volgograd museum is using the data to help families track down the fallen.

Last week, a memorial wall was officially opened on Mamayev Kurgan, a Tartar burial mound that is now the resting place — in mass graves — for tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers. The names of 17,000 previously unidentified soldiers are engraved on the wall.

“I searched for him all my life,” Valentina Savelyeva, 75, said as she ran her finger along the name of her father, Timofey Ponomarev, an anti-aircraft gunner who died in Stalingrad in October 1942. “I only wish my mother could have known where he was lost.”

Gennady Dubonosov, 76, the head of a group called “Children of Stalingrad,” has written to Putin asking the president to grant people who were under 16 at the time of the battle a special status, making them a category of veterans deserving benefits and larger pensions.

“There was something unique in what happened here: it was a special kind of hell,” said Dubonosov. “The artillery strikes were appalling. There were palls of black smoke swirling overhead. We sought any place to hide ... The sound was indescribable.”

Deryabkin said the dead also deserved more attention. Despite his efforts, more than 90 per cent of the bodies he and other groups discover remain unidentified and are buried in their hundreds every year in “brothers’ graves” on the edge of the city.

“Every year down from the Soviet times, we hear this refrain, ‘No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten,’” he said. “But we should better honour the men who lie in the fields around our city. Without their sacrifice, Russia might no longer exist.”

Wednesday 6 February 2013

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/years+later+Stalingrad+still+gives+dead/7922009/story.html#ixzz2K4gzsBcs

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