LOC12:36
09:36 GMT
Musharraf left for Kuala Lumpur to attend NAM summit
ISLAMABAD, Feb 23 (KUNA) -- The President of Pakistan, General Pervez
Musharraf Sunday left for Kuala Lumpur to attend the 13th summit of the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
President Musharraf will attend the two-day heads of state meeting of 114
member states on February 24 and 25 at the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The NAM summit is being held in the midst of unprecedented security and with
the main question mark haunting on its relevance to such international flash
points as Iraq, Palestine and Kashmir.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bahari Vajpayee is also attending the NAM summit.
It will be the fourth time when President General Musharraf and Indian
Premier Vajpayee will be together at an international forum since the attack
in front of the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, leading to a 10-months
long tense military standoff between the two sides.
The last time the two heads were together was at the United Nations General
Assembly in New York in September last.
A meeting on the sidelines of the summit meeting between President General
Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bahari Vajpayee is not in the
offing. Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has already made it
clear that talks with Pakistan are out of the question and the two leaders
will not meet in Kuala Lumpur.
The last time they had met was at Kathmandu (Nepal), on the
occasion of the summit conference of the South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) in January 2002.
The handshake, which President Musharraf virtually forced on the Indian
Prime Minister Vajpayee, produced no results, and the military tensions
continued until late into the summer last year. At Almaty, in June last, there
was not even a handshake, and all attempts by the hosts, including Russian
President Vladimir Putin, to arrange a meeting failed.
The theme of the NAM summit is terrorism. But Malaysia has made the Indians
a little worried, because Kuala Lumpur believes that the causes that lead to
terrorism must also be addressed. This constitutes indirect criticism of India
and Israel. The Indians feel this stand takes Malaysia closer to Pakistan's
stand, which believes in condemning terrorism by individuals and groups as
well as state terrorism.
The Kuala Lumpur Summit is being seen as a test for the NAM to prove its
worth after the end of the cold war era. The priority areas in the agenda of
the NAM summit are the impending war on Iraq and the use of war in the
resolution of international conflicts.
The NAM includes six nations, which are also member of the 15-member UN
Security Council. These are Angola, Guinea, Syria, Pakistan, Chile and
Cameroon.
The movement members also include Iran, Iraq and North Korea,
the
three states branded by U.S. President George W. Bush as an "axis of evil".
The NAM Movement traces its origin to the Bandung Conference of 1955, which
was co-sponsored by Pakistan, along with India, Sri Lanka, Burma and Indonesia.
Pakistan has continued to play an important role in the deliberations of
NAM and is regarded as one of its key members.
Pakistan, which did not attend the first session of NAM as it was a member
of CENTO and SEATO then, however participated in the deliberations as a guest
until its assumption of full membership during the 1979 Havana Summit.
Pakistan has advocated the need for the Movement to continue to promote
peace and economic development amongst its member states.
Pakistan shares the view that the Non-Aligned Movement has made an
admirable contribution in the past to the cause of freedom and liberty, to the
struggle against colonialism and racial discrimination. (end)
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