By IANS,
New Delhi: Rural youths are more likely than their urban cousins to have pre-marital sex, according to a study released by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad here Saturday.
Overall, 15 percent men and four percent women reported engaging in pre-marital sex.
But "17 percent men in rural areas engaged in pre-marital sex compared to 10 percent in cities while four percent women in rural areas engaged in sex before marriage against two percent in cities," found the study conducted under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The study found that youths in both urban and rural areas were engaging in unprotected sex, raising the need to provide sex education to adolescents in the country.
The study was conducted in six states - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu - between 2006 and 2008, involving over 58,000 youths in the age group of 15-29 years.
"We have data from states which says that more than eight percent of young people below the age of 19 years have experimented with sex. In our changing society both boys and girls are definitely in need of information and counselling," Azad said after releasing the study.
Findings show that condoms use within pre-marital sexual relationship was almost non-existent and a majority of those engaging in pre-marital sex had multiple partners.
The study also found that detailed awareness of contraceptive methods was limited, particularly among sexually active young women.
"Awareness of HIV/AIDS was limited among sexually experienced youth with majority of women unaware of it," the study said.
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who also attended the release function, said: "While awareness of contraceptive is high, its exact uses are shockingly low, with 70 percent of young women unaware of the fact that a condom can be used only once."
The study was carried out by the Population Council, Delhi and International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A global celebration of mercy
By TCN News
Boston: Prophet Mohammed was sent as mercy to the mankind. A global celebration is planned to mark the occasion of his birth day as a celebration of mercy. This unique event will be webcasted all over the world.
According to the organizers, the Prophet Mohammed's entire life was spend in the liberation of others. “He liberated people from misguidance, oppression, and greed. Even on his deathbed, his last words were, “Treat your women well, and do not oppress your servants...O God, my highest companion, O highest companion.” The world needs a deeper understanding of this man – his gentleness toward children, his love of animals, his concern for the weak and oppressed, and his sense of justice always tempered with mercy. He taught us that forbearance is greater than revenge; forgiveness more lofty than punishment; and compassion more effective than austerity. Above all, he taught us mercy. And in these difficult times, we are all in need of more mercy in the world.” Hence they plan to celebrate Prophet Muhammad by celebrating mercy.
Some famous scholars and performers will join the event including Yusuf Islam, Hamza Yusuf, Sami Yusuf, Zaik Shakir, Sayed Hassan Qazwini, Dalia Mogahed among others. The event will be broadcast online which in India will correspond to Friday, February 26 at 7:30AM. Organizers are also calling people to join the event by hosting the webcast in their areas.
Link:
http://www.celebratemercy.com
Boston: Prophet Mohammed was sent as mercy to the mankind. A global celebration is planned to mark the occasion of his birth day as a celebration of mercy. This unique event will be webcasted all over the world.
According to the organizers, the Prophet Mohammed's entire life was spend in the liberation of others. “He liberated people from misguidance, oppression, and greed. Even on his deathbed, his last words were, “Treat your women well, and do not oppress your servants...O God, my highest companion, O highest companion.” The world needs a deeper understanding of this man – his gentleness toward children, his love of animals, his concern for the weak and oppressed, and his sense of justice always tempered with mercy. He taught us that forbearance is greater than revenge; forgiveness more lofty than punishment; and compassion more effective than austerity. Above all, he taught us mercy. And in these difficult times, we are all in need of more mercy in the world.” Hence they plan to celebrate Prophet Muhammad by celebrating mercy.
Some famous scholars and performers will join the event including Yusuf Islam, Hamza Yusuf, Sami Yusuf, Zaik Shakir, Sayed Hassan Qazwini, Dalia Mogahed among others. The event will be broadcast online which in India will correspond to Friday, February 26 at 7:30AM. Organizers are also calling people to join the event by hosting the webcast in their areas.
Link:
http://www.celebratemercy.com
Eliminating the US-Muslim world trust deficit
By Huma Yusuf
Gathered around a table with Karachi-based bloggers one evening last week, Farah Pandith, the US Special Representative to Muslim Communities, asked, "Can't a person do more than one thing at a time?"
The question was raised as a way to get around the fact that most conversations about America's relations with Muslims around the world are held hostage by contentious issues arising in the context of the so-called "war against terror". She was trying to make the point that even while governments wrangle about drone attacks and the actions of the private military company Blackwater, Americans and Muslims around the world can begin to engage on a grassroots level.
Pandith's optimism about people-to-people relations strengthening ties between the United States and global Muslim communities is a cornerstone of US President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Indeed, Pandith's very position is a testament to the US government's commitment to reaching out to the Muslim world. She is the first special envoy to Muslim communities ever appointed.
But over a year into Obama's term in office, relations between the United States and Muslims the world over remain strained. The reasons for strain are several: the Afghan troop surge; the spread of Al Qaeda into Yemen; the Transportation Security Administration's heightened security requirements for US-bound travellers from many Muslim-majority countries, etc.
On campuses, on streets and online, young Muslims are increasingly complaining that Obama can talk the talk, but balks when it's time to walk the walk.
That's where Pandith enters the picture. Talking to Dawn.com, she argued that Americans and Muslims can connect beyond the ambit of security issues and, more importantly, that they can engage at a people-to-people, rather than political level. She imagines an increasing number of collaborations between Americans and Muslims in the fields of education, science and technology, and through entrepreneurial initiatives.
In Pandith's opinion, the United States can help build networks of like-minded people across the Muslim world. The US government can act as a "convener, facilitator and intellectual partner," she said, and help forge partnerships on the basis of common ideas and common goals.
"We want to mobilise people from the grassroots up. We are telling our embassies to connect deep and wide within their communities."
Pandith's goal of grassroots engagement relies heavily on harnessing the power of social media to traverse boundaries - geographic, social and cultural. That's why she met with bloggers during her trip to Karachi. By being attentive to blogs and social networks, Pandith also hopes to better understand the needs and aspirations of different Muslim communities.
She emphasises the need to understand the circumstances of each Muslim community separately. She points out that since 11 September 2001, hundreds of studies examining how Muslims think and identifying what they want have been commissioned and circulated in the United States.
"But when did we ask Muslims themselves what they think and what they want?" she asked.
If social media holds the key to better understanding, entrepreneurship, in the opinion of the Obama Administration, is the concrete way to establish long-term partnerships between Americans and Muslims. This spring, about 150 entrepreneurs from Muslim communities have been invited to a two-day Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC. The summit is an initial attempt to deepen ties between business leaders and social entrepreneurs in the United States and the Muslim world.
But for real engagement - particularly of a long-term, entrepreneurial variety - to work, the Obama administration has to overcome the trust deficit that currently exists in Muslim communities with regard to the United States. To truly succeed, Pandith's vision of frequent people-to-people interactions and collaborations will have to unfold in an environment in which the United States is seen as a superpower that genuinely respects Muslims.
Ultimately, grassroots mobilisation of Muslim communities will have to be accompanied by grand gestures from the top as well so that Muslims, especially young ones, become confident that engagement is an administrative priority, not just a talking point.
For instance, in Cairo last year, Obama stated that he rejected "the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal." At the time, the comment was understood to be an implicit rejection of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's initiative to ban the burqa - a garment that fully covers a woman's body, head and face - in France. Now that the ban is about to be implemented, Obama has been silent.
"The US government has to respect the decisions of a sovereign country," explained Pandith. That may be true. But it is on these sorts of hot-button issues that Muslim communities would welcome American engagement. After that, people-to-people interaction may just flourish organically.
---
Huma Yusuf is a freelance journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the author. The full text can be found at www.dawn.com.
Gathered around a table with Karachi-based bloggers one evening last week, Farah Pandith, the US Special Representative to Muslim Communities, asked, "Can't a person do more than one thing at a time?"
The question was raised as a way to get around the fact that most conversations about America's relations with Muslims around the world are held hostage by contentious issues arising in the context of the so-called "war against terror". She was trying to make the point that even while governments wrangle about drone attacks and the actions of the private military company Blackwater, Americans and Muslims around the world can begin to engage on a grassroots level.
Pandith's optimism about people-to-people relations strengthening ties between the United States and global Muslim communities is a cornerstone of US President Barack Obama's foreign policy. Indeed, Pandith's very position is a testament to the US government's commitment to reaching out to the Muslim world. She is the first special envoy to Muslim communities ever appointed.
But over a year into Obama's term in office, relations between the United States and Muslims the world over remain strained. The reasons for strain are several: the Afghan troop surge; the spread of Al Qaeda into Yemen; the Transportation Security Administration's heightened security requirements for US-bound travellers from many Muslim-majority countries, etc.
On campuses, on streets and online, young Muslims are increasingly complaining that Obama can talk the talk, but balks when it's time to walk the walk.
That's where Pandith enters the picture. Talking to Dawn.com, she argued that Americans and Muslims can connect beyond the ambit of security issues and, more importantly, that they can engage at a people-to-people, rather than political level. She imagines an increasing number of collaborations between Americans and Muslims in the fields of education, science and technology, and through entrepreneurial initiatives.
In Pandith's opinion, the United States can help build networks of like-minded people across the Muslim world. The US government can act as a "convener, facilitator and intellectual partner," she said, and help forge partnerships on the basis of common ideas and common goals.
"We want to mobilise people from the grassroots up. We are telling our embassies to connect deep and wide within their communities."
Pandith's goal of grassroots engagement relies heavily on harnessing the power of social media to traverse boundaries - geographic, social and cultural. That's why she met with bloggers during her trip to Karachi. By being attentive to blogs and social networks, Pandith also hopes to better understand the needs and aspirations of different Muslim communities.
She emphasises the need to understand the circumstances of each Muslim community separately. She points out that since 11 September 2001, hundreds of studies examining how Muslims think and identifying what they want have been commissioned and circulated in the United States.
"But when did we ask Muslims themselves what they think and what they want?" she asked.
If social media holds the key to better understanding, entrepreneurship, in the opinion of the Obama Administration, is the concrete way to establish long-term partnerships between Americans and Muslims. This spring, about 150 entrepreneurs from Muslim communities have been invited to a two-day Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC. The summit is an initial attempt to deepen ties between business leaders and social entrepreneurs in the United States and the Muslim world.
But for real engagement - particularly of a long-term, entrepreneurial variety - to work, the Obama administration has to overcome the trust deficit that currently exists in Muslim communities with regard to the United States. To truly succeed, Pandith's vision of frequent people-to-people interactions and collaborations will have to unfold in an environment in which the United States is seen as a superpower that genuinely respects Muslims.
Ultimately, grassroots mobilisation of Muslim communities will have to be accompanied by grand gestures from the top as well so that Muslims, especially young ones, become confident that engagement is an administrative priority, not just a talking point.
For instance, in Cairo last year, Obama stated that he rejected "the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal." At the time, the comment was understood to be an implicit rejection of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's initiative to ban the burqa - a garment that fully covers a woman's body, head and face - in France. Now that the ban is about to be implemented, Obama has been silent.
"The US government has to respect the decisions of a sovereign country," explained Pandith. That may be true. But it is on these sorts of hot-button issues that Muslim communities would welcome American engagement. After that, people-to-people interaction may just flourish organically.
---
Huma Yusuf is a freelance journalist based in Karachi, Pakistan. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from the author. The full text can be found at www.dawn.com.
Czech Bans Anti-minority Party
IslamOnline.net & NewspapersCAIRO – The Czech Republic has banned a far-right party for fueling hatred against minorities, the first such a move since the independence of the central European country.
“This ruling needs to be understood as a preventive one, to maintain the constitutional and democratic order in the future,” Judge Vojtech Simicek said in a 120-page ruling cited by The New York Times Friday, February 19.
Describing it as xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic, the court said the far-right Workers’ Party posed a threat to the Czech democracy.
The ruling, adopted Wednesday, said the party follows the example of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi policies and had links to white supremacist and racist groups.
“Society must realize that the causes for the Workers’ Party lie deeply within itself,” judge Simicek said.
Established in 2003, the far-right party is not represented in the Czech parliament.
In 2009, it won a surprising 1.07 percent of votes in the European parliament election.
The far-right party openly calls for the overthrow of the Czech political system and an abolition of all Czech parliamentary parties.
Some of its top officials have been associated with neo-Nazi groups such as Narodni odpor, Czech subsidiary of international militant neo-Nazi group.
The ban follows attacks by party supporters against minorities last year, which saw the killing of young child in a gas bomb attack, prompting the government to seek its outlaw.
The Czech Republic is home to around 50,000 Muslims.
In 2004, Prague acknowledged Islam as an official religion, giving Muslims rights on an equal footing to Christians and Jews.
Fight Rightists
The ruling was widely welcomed by different political parties in the Czech Republic.
“In a democratic society, the battle against extremism never ends,” Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina, who filed the ban petition, told a news conference cited by the BBC News Online.
“Either we act immediately and stamp out extremism as soon as it appears, or we can wait for police cars to be set on fire and petrol bombs to be thrown.
“Each step - like the one taken today - significantly weakens the neo-Nazi movement.”
Czechs said that the ban would help put an end to violence against minorities.
“I think it's vital to show the whole of society that extremist groups like the Workers' Party advocate the suppression of the rights of ethnic and other minorities,” said Gabriela Hrabanova, head of the government's Council for Roma Community Affairs.
While immigrants make up less than 1 percent of the country’s 10.2 million population, ethnic minorities account for nearly 4 percent.
“All of us - including Romanies - have a place in this society,” Hrabanova said.
“I call on the whole of Czech society to reject these racist and extremist views.”
“This ruling needs to be understood as a preventive one, to maintain the constitutional and democratic order in the future,” Judge Vojtech Simicek said in a 120-page ruling cited by The New York Times Friday, February 19.
Describing it as xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic, the court said the far-right Workers’ Party posed a threat to the Czech democracy.
The ruling, adopted Wednesday, said the party follows the example of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi policies and had links to white supremacist and racist groups.
“Society must realize that the causes for the Workers’ Party lie deeply within itself,” judge Simicek said.
Established in 2003, the far-right party is not represented in the Czech parliament.
In 2009, it won a surprising 1.07 percent of votes in the European parliament election.
The far-right party openly calls for the overthrow of the Czech political system and an abolition of all Czech parliamentary parties.
Some of its top officials have been associated with neo-Nazi groups such as Narodni odpor, Czech subsidiary of international militant neo-Nazi group.
The ban follows attacks by party supporters against minorities last year, which saw the killing of young child in a gas bomb attack, prompting the government to seek its outlaw.
The Czech Republic is home to around 50,000 Muslims.
In 2004, Prague acknowledged Islam as an official religion, giving Muslims rights on an equal footing to Christians and Jews.
Fight Rightists
The ruling was widely welcomed by different political parties in the Czech Republic.
“In a democratic society, the battle against extremism never ends,” Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina, who filed the ban petition, told a news conference cited by the BBC News Online.
“Either we act immediately and stamp out extremism as soon as it appears, or we can wait for police cars to be set on fire and petrol bombs to be thrown.
“Each step - like the one taken today - significantly weakens the neo-Nazi movement.”
Czechs said that the ban would help put an end to violence against minorities.
“I think it's vital to show the whole of society that extremist groups like the Workers' Party advocate the suppression of the rights of ethnic and other minorities,” said Gabriela Hrabanova, head of the government's Council for Roma Community Affairs.
While immigrants make up less than 1 percent of the country’s 10.2 million population, ethnic minorities account for nearly 4 percent.
“All of us - including Romanies - have a place in this society,” Hrabanova said.
“I call on the whole of Czech society to reject these racist and extremist views.”
Rohingyas Taste Bangladesh Abuses
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
CAIRO — Fleeing oppression at their homeland for a better life, Muslim refugees from Myanmar are tasting abuses and mistreatment in neighboring Bangladesh, reported The New York Times on Friday, February 19
“Over the last few months we have treated victims of violence, people who claim to have been beaten by the police, claim to have been beaten by members of the host population,” said Paul Critchley, head of mission in Bangladesh for the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Myanmarese Muslim refugees, known as Rohingya, are complaining of daily abuses and mistreatment at the hands of police and locals.
Citing beatings and assaults, many of the refugees say that the police had forced many of them into river to swim back to Myanmar.
“We have treated patients for beatings, for machete wounds and for rape,” said Critchley.
“This is continuing today.”
Every year, thousands of minority Muslim Rohingyas flee Myanmar in wooden boats, embarking on a hazardous journey to Thailand or Malaysia in search of a better life.
While some find work as illegal laborers, others are arrested, detained and "repatriated" to a military-ruled country that washed its hands of them decades ago.
Rohingyas say they are deprived of free movement, education and employment in their homeland.
They are not recognized as an ethnic minority by Myanmar and say they suffer human rights abuses at the hands of government officials.
Many have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh, living in mud huts covered in plastic sheets and tree branches, which provide poor shelter during monsoon rains that cause mudslides and expose them to waterborne diseases.
Bangladesh says there are about 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees in two UN camps near the southeastern resort of Cox's Bazaar.
No Life
Packed into UN-run camps, thousands of Rohingyas are lacking almost everything.
“They cannot receive general food distribution,” Critchley said.
“It is illegal for them to work. All they can legally do in Bangladesh is starve to death.”
Struggling to survive, most Rohingyas work mostly as day laborers, servants or pedicab drivers.
They lack almost everything, from rights, education to other government services.
“We cannot move around to find work,” said Hasan, 40, a day laborer who lives with his wife and three children in a dirt-floored hovel made of sticks, scrap wood and plastic sheeting.
Hasan says he had no way to feed his family.
“There is a checkpoint nearby where they’re catching people and arresting them,” he said.
“We aren’t receiving any help. No one can borrow money from each other. Everybody’s in crisis now.”
David Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said Rohingyas had been victims of a "pattern of abuses" in Bangladesh for more than 30 years and the government had made it clear it wanted rid of them.
"It's not as if these incidents came out of the blue,” he said.
“They're part of a very long-running brutal process of making life so uncomfortable for the people in the camp that they'll return to Burma," he said, referring to Myanmar by its formername.
"They fled some absolutely horrific human rights violations in their own country. They're justifiably too frightened to return."
CAIRO — Fleeing oppression at their homeland for a better life, Muslim refugees from Myanmar are tasting abuses and mistreatment in neighboring Bangladesh, reported The New York Times on Friday, February 19
“Over the last few months we have treated victims of violence, people who claim to have been beaten by the police, claim to have been beaten by members of the host population,” said Paul Critchley, head of mission in Bangladesh for the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres.
Myanmarese Muslim refugees, known as Rohingya, are complaining of daily abuses and mistreatment at the hands of police and locals.
Citing beatings and assaults, many of the refugees say that the police had forced many of them into river to swim back to Myanmar.
“We have treated patients for beatings, for machete wounds and for rape,” said Critchley.
“This is continuing today.”
Every year, thousands of minority Muslim Rohingyas flee Myanmar in wooden boats, embarking on a hazardous journey to Thailand or Malaysia in search of a better life.
While some find work as illegal laborers, others are arrested, detained and "repatriated" to a military-ruled country that washed its hands of them decades ago.
Rohingyas say they are deprived of free movement, education and employment in their homeland.
They are not recognized as an ethnic minority by Myanmar and say they suffer human rights abuses at the hands of government officials.
Many have sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh, living in mud huts covered in plastic sheets and tree branches, which provide poor shelter during monsoon rains that cause mudslides and expose them to waterborne diseases.
Bangladesh says there are about 28,000 registered Rohingya refugees in two UN camps near the southeastern resort of Cox's Bazaar.
No Life
Packed into UN-run camps, thousands of Rohingyas are lacking almost everything.
“They cannot receive general food distribution,” Critchley said.
“It is illegal for them to work. All they can legally do in Bangladesh is starve to death.”
Struggling to survive, most Rohingyas work mostly as day laborers, servants or pedicab drivers.
They lack almost everything, from rights, education to other government services.
“We cannot move around to find work,” said Hasan, 40, a day laborer who lives with his wife and three children in a dirt-floored hovel made of sticks, scrap wood and plastic sheeting.
Hasan says he had no way to feed his family.
“There is a checkpoint nearby where they’re catching people and arresting them,” he said.
“We aren’t receiving any help. No one can borrow money from each other. Everybody’s in crisis now.”
David Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said Rohingyas had been victims of a "pattern of abuses" in Bangladesh for more than 30 years and the government had made it clear it wanted rid of them.
"It's not as if these incidents came out of the blue,” he said.
“They're part of a very long-running brutal process of making life so uncomfortable for the people in the camp that they'll return to Burma," he said, referring to Myanmar by its formername.
"They fled some absolutely horrific human rights violations in their own country. They're justifiably too frightened to return."
Afghanistan Brings Dutch Govt Down
IslamOnline.net & News Agencies
AMSTERDAM – The Dutch government collapsed Saturday, February 20, over a dispute between coalition parties on extending the Netherlands’ military mission in Afghanistan.
"Later today, I will offer to her majesty the Queen the resignations of the ministers and deputy ministers of the (Labour Party) PvdA," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The centre-left government cracked after the PvdA rejected a NATO request to extend the mandate of the Dutch mission in Afghanistan until August 2011, a year later than originally planned.
Balkenende’s centre-right Christian Democrats party wanted to keep the Dutch troops until 2001, a move rejected by the PvdA.
More than 15 hours of talks between the two parties and acrimonious exchanges failed to resolve the standoff.
"As the leader of the cabinet, I came to the conclusion that there is no fruitful path for the CDA, PvdA and Christian Union to take into the future," Balkenende said.
"For days we have seen that unity has been affected by ... statements that clash with recent cabinet decisions. These statements place a political mortgage on collegial deliberation."
This was Balkenende's fourth government in a row in eight years. All have collapsed before their mandate expired.
Around 1,950 Dutch troops are deployed in Afghanistan under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
The Dutch mission, which started in 2006, has already once been extended by two years and has cost 21 soldiers' lives.
Recrimination
The PvdA said that keeping the Dutch troops for more one year in Afghanistan goes against the will of the Dutch public.
"No good reason" for an extension of the mission has been forthcoming, Deputy Prime Minister, who leads the PvdA, said.
"Under the circumstances, the PvdA could no longer credibly form part of this cabinet.
"The PvdA remains committed to the cabinet decision of 2007 to end the Dutch contribution to the military mission in Uruzgan in December 2010."
The government collapse comes amid rising recriminations across Europe over the open-ended conflict in Afghanistan.
Nine years after the US invasion, the country is plagued by a deadly violence between the Taliban and US-led foreign troops.
Nearly 15,000 US-led troops launched last week a major offensive into Taliban stronghold of Helmand.
"We've been talking about Marjah for months and at no point did we say anything but it's going to be a tough fight," said US Marines Captain Abraham Sipe, spokesman at Taskforce Leatherneck in Helmand.
"There are pockets throughout the city where stiffer resistance has been met. But there was never any doubt there would be a significant IED threat," he said, referring to improvised explosive devices.
At least 22 foreign troops were killed last week, including 12 in Helmand.
The new casualties bring to 85 the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to the icasualties.org website.
AMSTERDAM – The Dutch government collapsed Saturday, February 20, over a dispute between coalition parties on extending the Netherlands’ military mission in Afghanistan.
"Later today, I will offer to her majesty the Queen the resignations of the ministers and deputy ministers of the (Labour Party) PvdA," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The centre-left government cracked after the PvdA rejected a NATO request to extend the mandate of the Dutch mission in Afghanistan until August 2011, a year later than originally planned.
Balkenende’s centre-right Christian Democrats party wanted to keep the Dutch troops until 2001, a move rejected by the PvdA.
More than 15 hours of talks between the two parties and acrimonious exchanges failed to resolve the standoff.
"As the leader of the cabinet, I came to the conclusion that there is no fruitful path for the CDA, PvdA and Christian Union to take into the future," Balkenende said.
"For days we have seen that unity has been affected by ... statements that clash with recent cabinet decisions. These statements place a political mortgage on collegial deliberation."
This was Balkenende's fourth government in a row in eight years. All have collapsed before their mandate expired.
Around 1,950 Dutch troops are deployed in Afghanistan under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
The Dutch mission, which started in 2006, has already once been extended by two years and has cost 21 soldiers' lives.
Recrimination
The PvdA said that keeping the Dutch troops for more one year in Afghanistan goes against the will of the Dutch public.
"No good reason" for an extension of the mission has been forthcoming, Deputy Prime Minister, who leads the PvdA, said.
"Under the circumstances, the PvdA could no longer credibly form part of this cabinet.
"The PvdA remains committed to the cabinet decision of 2007 to end the Dutch contribution to the military mission in Uruzgan in December 2010."
The government collapse comes amid rising recriminations across Europe over the open-ended conflict in Afghanistan.
Nine years after the US invasion, the country is plagued by a deadly violence between the Taliban and US-led foreign troops.
Nearly 15,000 US-led troops launched last week a major offensive into Taliban stronghold of Helmand.
"We've been talking about Marjah for months and at no point did we say anything but it's going to be a tough fight," said US Marines Captain Abraham Sipe, spokesman at Taskforce Leatherneck in Helmand.
"There are pockets throughout the city where stiffer resistance has been met. But there was never any doubt there would be a significant IED threat," he said, referring to improvised explosive devices.
At least 22 foreign troops were killed last week, including 12 in Helmand.
The new casualties bring to 85 the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to the icasualties.org website.
Friday, February 19, 2010
76 trafficked children return home in northeast
By IANS,
Imphal : Seventy-six children, who were rescued after being allegedly forced into child labour in Tamil Nadu, were brought back to their homes in Manipur and Assam Friday, officials said.
The children, aged between 12 and 14, had been rescued by the Tamil Nadu police from Chennai and Kanyakumari last month. They arrived in Guwahati Thursday evening.
Of the 76 children, 52 were from Manipur and 24 from Haflong in north Cachar hills district in southern Assam.
"The children from a poor background had been lured away two to three years ago by an unregistered NGO that promised their families better education in the southern metropolis. But they were allegedly forced into child labour and sexual exploitation," a police spokesman told reporters.
"The Assam police and social welfare department of Assam and Manipur in association with the Tamil Nadu police had rescued the children and brought them back to their homes," the official said.
POlice officials in Assam and Manipur will talk to the children later to know more about their captivity in Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu police have arrested three people in connection with the child trafficking and are looking for others involved in the racket.
Imphal : Seventy-six children, who were rescued after being allegedly forced into child labour in Tamil Nadu, were brought back to their homes in Manipur and Assam Friday, officials said.
The children, aged between 12 and 14, had been rescued by the Tamil Nadu police from Chennai and Kanyakumari last month. They arrived in Guwahati Thursday evening.
Of the 76 children, 52 were from Manipur and 24 from Haflong in north Cachar hills district in southern Assam.
"The children from a poor background had been lured away two to three years ago by an unregistered NGO that promised their families better education in the southern metropolis. But they were allegedly forced into child labour and sexual exploitation," a police spokesman told reporters.
"The Assam police and social welfare department of Assam and Manipur in association with the Tamil Nadu police had rescued the children and brought them back to their homes," the official said.
POlice officials in Assam and Manipur will talk to the children later to know more about their captivity in Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu police have arrested three people in connection with the child trafficking and are looking for others involved in the racket.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Malaysia prefers workers from Nepal, not Bangladesh
By IANS,
Dhaka : Malaysia is hiring over 100,000 workers from Nepal, "sidelining" 55,000 Bangladeshi workers whose visas were cancelled in March last year, a newspaper has reported.
Malaysia banned foreign workers in manufacturing and service sectors after a report forecast that 45,000 Malaysians were at risk of losing their jobs.
In March the same year the Malaysian government imposed a freeze on hiring 55,000 Bangladeshi workers, citing the global economic meltdown.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago in November, told his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina that they would maintain the freeze on hiring Bangladeshi workers.
The decision came "as a smack for Bangladesh", The Daily Star said Wednesday.
The Malaysian government has already approved around 100,000 visas for Nepali workers. These workers will get entry in six months.
This is far more than the estimated 25,000 visas that Nepal used to get in the past, it quoted Kumud Khanal, co-coordinator of Nepalese manpower agencies, as saying.
This is partly because the Nepalese manpower agencies have brought down the migration cost to around Nepali Rs.40,000 from Rs.80,000 in a bid to send more workers, a recent report of Republica, a Nepalese online newspaper, quoted him as saying.
Bangladesh's recruiting agencies have expressed grievances over such a decision by Malaysia.
"Sidelining 55,000 Bangladeshi workers is inhuman," said Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) president Ghulam Mustafa, adding that the workers who had spent a lot of money for visas have been in trouble for long.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Elias Ahmed, however, said the government was yet to learn about the details of Malaysia's hiring of workers from Nepal.
Dhaka : Malaysia is hiring over 100,000 workers from Nepal, "sidelining" 55,000 Bangladeshi workers whose visas were cancelled in March last year, a newspaper has reported.
Malaysia banned foreign workers in manufacturing and service sectors after a report forecast that 45,000 Malaysians were at risk of losing their jobs.
In March the same year the Malaysian government imposed a freeze on hiring 55,000 Bangladeshi workers, citing the global economic meltdown.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, on the sidelines of the Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago in November, told his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina that they would maintain the freeze on hiring Bangladeshi workers.
The decision came "as a smack for Bangladesh", The Daily Star said Wednesday.
The Malaysian government has already approved around 100,000 visas for Nepali workers. These workers will get entry in six months.
This is far more than the estimated 25,000 visas that Nepal used to get in the past, it quoted Kumud Khanal, co-coordinator of Nepalese manpower agencies, as saying.
This is partly because the Nepalese manpower agencies have brought down the migration cost to around Nepali Rs.40,000 from Rs.80,000 in a bid to send more workers, a recent report of Republica, a Nepalese online newspaper, quoted him as saying.
Bangladesh's recruiting agencies have expressed grievances over such a decision by Malaysia.
"Sidelining 55,000 Bangladeshi workers is inhuman," said Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) president Ghulam Mustafa, adding that the workers who had spent a lot of money for visas have been in trouble for long.
Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Secretary Elias Ahmed, however, said the government was yet to learn about the details of Malaysia's hiring of workers from Nepal.
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