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MATT SHAND

Last updated14:23, January 27 2017

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These four medals are identical to the ones stolen from Mark Doohan during a burglary. The former serviceman is requesting the burglar return the items somehow to him.

Areturned serviceman has had his service medals stolen in a callous home burglary.

Now he is calling on the burglars to do the right thing and return the irreplaceable items.

Mark Doohanand Mia Spillman came back to their Taupo home after spending lastweekend away to discover their TV was missing.

Supplied

Engraving on the edge of each medal will read U1019171 LCPL M R DOOHAN.

"It was then we realised someone had broken in," Spillman said.

They did not realise what had been taken until a few hours later as Doohan searched the home which revealedthe extent of the burglary.

Thethieves have taken acurious mixture of items including two blocks of cheese, wine bottlesand all the socks from the drawers.

Supplied

These four medals are identical to the ones stolen from Mark Doohan during a burglary. The former serviceman is requesting the burglar return the items somehow to him.

"We noticed they had gone through the drawers and I had a thought to check the drawer where the medals were," Doohan

"They are not valuable medals at all but they hold a lot of sentimental value and I would like to get them back."

The medals stolen included (in order of them pictured) were a New Zealand operational service medal, Afghanistan primary service medal, NATO non article five for ISAF medal and the defence service medal with regular clasp.

Supplied

These four medals are identical to the ones stolen from Mark Doohan during a burglary. The former serviceman is requesting the burglar return the items somehow to him.

The medals were encased in a black cordua zip case, similar to a CD case but slightly larger.

Each of the medals had engraving along the bottom edge with the words, "U1019171LCPLM RDOOHAN" written on them.

While the medals will be worth nothing in resale, they cannot be replaced.

"They are a one-off issue for the lifetime of the person," Doohan said.

"It means you can't get a replacement you can only get replicas for them."

Doohan hopes the thieves, or someone who knows who took the medals, will return the items to him.

"Even if they just left them somewhere and told someone what they were," he said.

"I don't care about the rest of the items."

Information about the identity of the thieves, or anything that might assist police, can be given to Crime Stoppers on 0800 555 111.

If someone has located the medals, and wants to return them anonymously, they can return them to the Taupo Times office at 86 Ruapehu Street, Taupo or send them to Po Box 205 Taupo.

-Stuff

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Afghanistan war medals stolen - Stuff.co.nz

Trumps crackdown on immigration drew immediate protest nationwide. Thousands of people poured into New York Citys Washington Square Park Tuesday night holding candles and signs reading "No One Is Illegal." Vigils and rallies were also held outside Los Angeles City Hall and at the Columbia Heights Civic Plaza in Washington, D.C. This is Debbie Almontaser, president of the Muslim Community Network, speaking in Manhattan Tuesday night.

Debbie Almontaser: "Im a community activist here in New York City. Im also a Yemeni-American who actually still has family back in Yemen. Shortly after the war, many members of my family were actually able to flee, such as my daughter and her husband. But sadly, as we speak, my brother-in-laws wife remains in Yemen. He actually began the petitioning for her, and she was in Jordan and awaiting just to finish her paperwork. And now, with this executive order, I very much doubt that she will be able to join her two daughters and husband, who are already here."

That was Debbie Almontaser. And this is another protester who is originally from Sudan.

Shadin Awad: "My name is Shadin Awad. And I think its quite ironic that there is a ban, or there is a potential ban, on people from Sudan and people from a lot of Muslim countries, in general, where the U.S. has played a direct hand in disenfranchising the people of those countries. The U.S. has played a direct hand in even the genocide that occurred in Darfur. I think its really ironic that, you know, now its however many years later, theyre saying, 'Oh, we don't want you. We dont want you after we messed up your country. We dont want you after weve disenfranchised your people. We dont want you after weve disenfranchised the world. You know, as the U.S., we meddle, we go everywhere. The U.S. goes everywhere and then says, 'No, we don't want you anymore."

Following Trumps executive orders, hundreds of people also marched through the streets in Kensington, Brooklyna predominantly working-class immigrant communityand gathered for a press conference to announce the launch of a "Hate-Free Zone." The community defense program is one of a series of efforts by neighborhood groups nationwide to mobilize residents to organize their own security against hate attacks and police brutality. In the wake of Trumps election, verbal and physical hate attacks against immigrants, LGBT people, African Americans and religious minorities have increased dramatically. Last week, 27 Jewish community centers nationwide received bomb threats, after 16 JCCs received bomb threats the week before. Other examples include a swastika and the word "Trump" being graffitied onto a high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and onto a library in Northbrook, Illinois.

Continue reading here:
Afghanistan Orders Arrest of VP's Bodyguards, After Reports of Rape & Torture - Democracy Now!

In the third part of Refugees DeeplysReturn to Afghanistan series, Umer Ali meets transgender refugees who fear that being forced to leave Pakistan amounts to a death sentence.

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN You cannot talk to Gulalai in the language of her adopted country. Despite living in Pakistan for the past 17 years, she has been unable to properly learn Urdu and remains confined to her native Pashto. As a member of the transgender community, language is just one of the barriers she faces.

I never learned Urdu because I rarely go out of the small world we have created for ourselves [to stay safe], she says in Pashto.

Gulalai left Afghanistan when she was only eight years old. Now a shy 25-year-old, she speaks only when spoken to.

Whatever the constraints of her life in Pakistan, she is certain that it offers a better future than her birth country, to which Pakistan is coercing waves of former refugees to return.

Only fragments of memory remain from Gulalais childhood somewhere in the suburbs of the capital, Kabul. She was born a boy but realized as a small child that she was meant to be a girl. Her parents were determined she would grow up to be a man, and when she failed to live up to this, they beat her.

The punishments were harsh and relentless. Aged eight, she found the courage to run away. From Kabul she made her way to Jalalabad, where she found some protection from others in what we would now know as the transgender community.

All that is left from her family memories are some pain and wistful thoughts of her lost younger brother. She remembers him having a limp, but cannot recall his name. I always wonder what happened to him, she says.

Once in Pakistan, she was introduced to someone she was told was a guru an elder in the transgender community who took her in. Like so many trans youngsters, she grew into one of the only professions open to her, that of a dancer.

Most of the transgender people are either thrown out or run away from their homes at an early age, says Farzana Jan, a transgender activist whose home in Peshawar is a meeting point for the community. One of the leaders of rights group Trans Action Alliance, based in the capital of KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) province, she explains the bind that Gulalai and others are in: They neither get formal education nor any professional training. So they cant get into a profession deemed respectable by the rest of society.

Among those who do not become dancers, Farzana says, many find work on Dalazak Road, Peshawars red-light district. Dancers are in demand for public events such as weddings, and Gulalai remembers how she shook with fear on her first outings.

I realized that I would have to dance in order to survive because my guru expected me to earn money. We are often teased, groped and abused by men.

However, even this precarious life is now under threat.

Pakistan is determined to send Afghan refugees back, after a string of terror attacks blamed on Afghan insurgents. Many Afghans face police harassment in Pakistan and have elected reluctantly to return. But even this option is complicated for Gulalai.

Im neither an Afghan national nor a Pakistani national, she says, her face wrinkling into tears.

Umer Ali

Gulalais estrangement from her family means she has no record of her birth or paperwork to support her Afghan citizenship. Unable to prove her Afghan nationality, she has not been registered by authorities in Pakistan as a refugee.

When a deadline was announced for Afghans to leave Pakistan, many transgender refugees turned to Farzana Jan for help and advice. I told them I would try my best, but even then, I knew I couldnt do much, she says.

Life without papers is claustrophobic for Gulalai. She cannot travel to other cities without an I.D. card to show at the security checkpoints; this also prevents her from something as straightforward as having a cellphone registered in her name.

I cant have a SIM [card] in my name because Im not registered in the Pakistani governments database.

Gulalai shudders at the notion of going back to Afghanistan. Like all members of the trans community, she has heard the horrific tales of violence in the country of her childhood.

We have received several videos of violence against the transgender community in Afghanistan, says Farzana. In many areas of Afghanistan, the body parts of transgender people are chopped off before they are killed.

She relates the story of one transgender Afghan refugee who left Pakistan three years ago. She started dancing at weddings in Jalalabad [in eastern Afghanistan], but was soon arrested by the police because its forbidden to do so.

Shes still stuck in an Afghan jail where shes forced to live in the mens section, often getting harassed and abused.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR), which is facilitating the return of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, has faced criticism for legitimizing what critics say amounts to forced returns.

Duniya Aslam Khan, the UNHCR spokesperson in Pakistan, says the agency is aware of fears among the Afghan trans community and would make them a priority: Transgender people are more than welcome to contact us to discuss their issues. We understand their issues and are very sensitive toward them.

Trans Action Alliance says they have repeatedly approached the UNHCR for help in registering stateless transgender refugees, but received no response.

Gulalais fears are shared by Sapna, a 22-year-old transgender Afghan who identifies as male, who came to Pakistan with his parents in the 1980s. Sapna is a self-taught tailor and embroiderer, but has struggled to find work in Peshawar.

He says that he survives thanks to the close bonds of the trans community, some of whom bring their clothes to him to repair. Like Gulalai, Sapna is stateless a citizen of neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan.

In other countries, if you were born and lived there for 10 years you could acquire their nationality but not in Pakistan, he complains. I dont want to go back to Afghanistan and get butchered there. I would prefer to be punished by the Pakistani government.

Amna Nasir contributed to this report.This article originally appeared onRefugees Deeply. For weekly updates and analysis about refugee issues, you cansign up to the Refugees Deeply email list.

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Transgender Refugees In Pakistan Fear Death Upon Return Home To Afghanistan - Huffington Post

The LeJs militant infrastructure inside and outside Pakistan should be a cause of concern for the country.

On January 8, the head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), an insurgent group involved in sectarian killings designated as a terror group by the United States, reportedly died in an encounter with Punjabs law enforcement agencies. About a year ago, the militant organizations founder, Malik Ishaq, also died during an encounter with the police.

After the death of Malik Ishaq, the groups militant activities increased greatly: a majority of the suicide bombings that took place in Pakistan last year were carried about by different factions of LeJ. The killing of the groups new chief about two weeks ago has already become the latest reason for the organizations militant backlash. Last week, LeJ took responsibility for a suicide attack in a busy market near the Afghan border in Pakistans tribal areas that resulted in the death of at least 21 people.

The groups recent bombing close to the Afghan border should be a cause of concern for Pakistans security agencies. The threat in this regard is twofold: first, the LeJs unrelenting campaign of suicide bombings in the face of the most brutal counter terrorism campaign shows that the group still retains adequate militant infrastructure to frustrate Pakistans efforts to capture total control of the state in all forms, including forestalling future militant attacks.

Moreover, the concern in this regard also stems from militants ability to target the state at will. So far, a majority of the attacks carried out by the LeJ were either the result of the state direct action against the outfit or it was the consequence of the groups own hard-line ideological belief that places the countrys minority Shia Muslim population on the receiving end of violence.

The second major concern about the groups continued relevancy in the countrys militant domain comes from its sanctuaries abroad. The group is believed to have developed safe havens in Afghanistan. The recent attack that took place near the Afghan border in the Parachinar district of Kuram valley was the consequence of the Pakistani Taliban alliance with the LeJ. The Pakistani Taliban that fled the country about two years ago to escape the countrys military operation in the tribal areas along Afghanistan are also believed to have found shelter across the Durand Line.

The LeJs association with the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan appears to have opened another challenge for the country at a time when the organization is expanding its foothold in the countrys urban areas: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a more lethal outfit than TTP because it has taken the fight into the cities, said the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt-Gen (retd) Zaheer ul Islam in a recent interview. Its more likely that the Pakistani Taliban may join forces with the LeJs network inside Pakistan to rebound its own campaign of violence that has subsided in the last two years.

While the containment of the groups infrastructure inside the country appears within the states reach, LeJs bases in Afghanistan are expected to become a long-term challenge for Pakistan. While Pakistan has conveyed its reservations to the Afghan government about the safe havens various militant groups enjoy in the country, its unlikely that Afghanistan will take any measurable action to assuage Pakistans concerns. Afghanistans inaction in this regard may perhaps be the result of Pakistans own alleged inaction against the Afghan Taliban, whose leadership is reportedly based in Pakistan.

The government in Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for the recent bombing in Kabul that killed scores of people. In response, while Pakistan denied accusations made by the Afghan government, the Chief of Army Staff in Pakistan in a statement said that all safe heavens of terrorists were eliminated from the country. Its probable that militant groups fleeing to Afghanistan, particularly the LeJ, may take advantage of the feud between the two countries. In the coming weeks and months, the LeJ may accelerate the pace of its militant activities across the country.

Effective intelligence-sharing domestically and management of issues related to cross-border terrorism can go a long way in helping Pakistan address its terrorism problems successfully.

See the article here:
Is Lashker-e-Jhangvi Taking Advantage of Pakistan and Afghanistan's Bilateral Tensions? - The Diplomat

The post-2014 era was always going to be a challenging time for Afghanistan following security, economic, and political transitions in the country. Estimates predicted a slowdown in the high economic growth rate, mainly driven by foreign aid, expenditures by international security forces, and the construction sector, the country had enjoyed before the withdrawal of international troops. The poor performance of the Afghan economy in 2016 coincides with these estimations. The Afghan economy is closely linked with the countrys security and political situation. The record high number of conflict-related civilian casualties reported in the first half of last year testifies to the struggles of 2016. The temporary collapse of the key province of Kunduz, for the second time, at the beginning of 2016, the continued instability of northern provinces, the rise of the Islamic State in the east, and the progress of the Taliban toward the center of Helmand province each dominated news headlines and public awareness during the year. This scenario certainly affected the business mindset, resulting in low investment and capital flight, The Diplomat reported. Afghanistan greatly depends on its agriculture sector. Agricultural output shapes a significant portion of its gross domestic product. However, the country witnessed low yields, particularly of cereals, in 2016. The impacts of the poor security situation were exacerbated by adverse weather conditions and diseases, which constrained agricultural production.

GDP Growth Remains Low As a consequence of insecurity and a low agricultural yield, Afghanistans real GDP growth rate remained low. Although the official figures are yet to be released, World Bank estimates from October point to a growth rate of around 1.2% for the year. This coincides with the low economic growth anticipated for post-2014 Afghanistan. More concerning, the World Banks projections for 2017 are also not very encouraging. The World Bank estimates that Afghanistans growth rate is going to marginally increase to 1.8% in 2017 and to 3 and 3.6% in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Thats a far cry from the average growth rate of 9.4% sustained between 2003 to 2012, when Afghanistans economy was mainly driven by international troops and heavy investment in infrastructure. For an economy with an average population growth rate of 3% and an estimated 400,000 individuals entering the labor market each year, such low growth is a very alarming situation. The situation will be further aggravated as the repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan resumes in spring 2017. On a brighter note, domestic revenue collection remained strong and continued the upward trend that started in 2015. The International Monetary Fund had given a target of 140 billion afghani ($2 billion) for the year. The government was able to collect revenues amounting to Af.90 billion ($1.3 billion) in the first eight months of 2016, 30% higher than the reported figure for the same period in 2015. The improvement is partly due to improved tax administration, an increase in taxes on businesses, and a telecommunication fee of 10% on mobile top-ups. The import figure for the first half of 2016, $3.3 billion, was the lowest number since 2013. Imports in the first half of 2013 stood at $4.9 billion, which declined to $3.5 and $3.7 billion for the same time frame in 2014 and 2015, respectively. This implies a decline in domestic demand throughout this period. Afghanistans exports, on the other hand, saw a slight improvement, clocking in at $247 million for the first half of 2016, 10% higher than the first half of 2015. The jump is due in partly to good fruit yields in the previous year, which were processed and exported in 2016.

Achievements More broadly, Afghanistan witnessed significant achievements last year in terms of regional integration, economic cooperation, and infrastructure development. In May, Afghanistan, Iran and India signed the Chabahar port agreement. The arrival of first freight train in Afghanistans Hairatan port from China via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in November and inauguration of the Turkmen part of trilateral railway in Turkmenistan, which connected Afghanistan to an international railway network, were other significant steps in the right direction. In the same context, another important achievement was Afghanistans formal admission to the World Trade Organization in July. These developments will ensure easy, reliable, and cost-effective trade and transit opportunities for Afghanistan and the region. However, the expected gains of these projects will not be realized in short term. In another achievement, the Salma Dam, which was inaugurated in June by Indian and Afghan leaders, was an important breakthrough in energy infrastructure development in Afghanistan. It has the capacity to produce 42 megawatts of electricity and irrigate 80,000 hectares of farmland.

International Aid Afghanistans economy has remained dependent on international aid since 2001. In this context, the Warsaw and Brussels conferences were crucial to ensure continued support until 2020. At these conferences, Afghanistans development partners pledged security grants of $4.5 billion and development support of $3.8 billion annually. Despite the continued international support, the concern is that the country has not been able to utilize its development budget effectively. Annual reports from the Ministry of Finance reveal alarming figures about the poor execution rate, only about 35%, of the $2.9 billion development budget. There is little evidence to suggest significant improvements in the Afghan economy in 2017. The scourge of unemployment will continue to haunt the public and the government alike. Major national projects like Citizen Charter and the traditional quick fix approaches like cash-for-work, apprenticeships, and internship programs funded by donors might make up for unemployment to some extent. However, unless the government takes exceptional steps to improve the security situation, restore trust from the private sector, and significantly improve its budget execution rate, the year 2017 is going to be another challenging year for the Afghan economy.

Read more from the original source:
Challenging year for Afghanistan Growth - Financial Tribune