The Hindu : NAM leaders denounce terrorism

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 26, 2003

International

International

NAM leaders denounce terrorism

By P. S. Suryanarayana

KUALA LUMPUR Feb. 25. The 13th summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ended here late tonight even as it called upon all countries to cooperate in resolving the issues that had so far held up the efforts at the United Nations for ``the conclusion of a comprehensive convention for combating international terrorism''.

The initiative for such a comprehensive convention has been taken by India in conjunction with its friends and political allies. While the anti-terror pronouncements formed an integral part of the summit's final document, the leaders issued a separate statement on the Iraqi crisis by emphasising that the ongoing ``disarmament efforts in Iraq should not be an end in itself but should also constitute a step towards the lifting of sanctions in accordance with Security Council Resolution 687''.

Underlining the criticality of the Security Council Resolution 1441, which covers the weapons inspections in Iraq, it expressed the belief that the overall peaceful resolution of the crisis would also result in ``compliance'' with Paragraph 14 of Resolution 687. The paragraph calls for the establishment of a weapons-of-mass-destruction-free-zone in West Asia inclusive of Israel, the leaders emphasised.

The summit, in a separate Kuala Lumpur declaration, outlined the steps required for a sustainable rejuvenation of the movement. The issue of Palesine was also addressed with due attention, with NAM reaffirming its traditional position in the new context of an insistence that Israel should be held accountable for all its actions.

On North Korea, it advocated that all parties concerned should interact with one another with a view to resolving the current crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. There was no specific endorsement of either North Korea's insistence on security guarantees, as compensation for any renunciation of its nuclear weapons programme, or the U.S.' insistence that Pyongyang adhere to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by abandoning efforts at weaponisation.

The final document expressed NAM leaders' support for the ``legally binding'' Security Council Resolution 1373, widely regarded as the anti-terror Magna Carta for mandatory actions by the international community.

The leaders rejected the notion of an ``axis of evil'' on the global stage, denounced terrorism in all its manifestations and amplified the distinction between terrorism and ``self-determination'' in the specific sense of a struggle against colonial domination and foreign occupation. This phraseology, arguably, will not cast aspersions on India's policies to combat terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

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NAM leaders denounce terrorism