HAVANA, 17 September 2006 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Non-Aligned Movement leaders late Friday to take a conciliatory tone as they work to counter terrorism, and try to keep the Mideast peace process on track.
“If NAM is to be relevant in today’s circumstances, it cannot afford to equivocate on the subject of terrorism,” Manmohan told more than 55 leaders of state and government from the NAM’s 118 developing-country member states.
“A message must emanate from us that we are united in our desire to fight and eliminate the scourge of terrorism. We cannot allow the forces of intolerance and extremism to distract the world’s attention from the vital concerns of our people — the problems of poverty, ignorance and disease,” Manmohan stressed.
At a summit that has been rife with sharp words on US policy Manmohan appealed for a new “inclusive globalization.” He and also argued that, “As a group we have rejected extremes. We must spread the word of Gandhiji, the apostle of peace.
“Our voice must then be one of moderation, harmony and reason,” Manmohan said. “If such is the voice of more than half of the people of the world, it will prevail.” The Indian premier also pressed for NAM members to work to bolster efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.
“The emerging fault lines of the new ideological divide are nowhere more apparent today then in West Asia,” Manmohan said.
“We have just been witness to a tragic and pointless war in Lebanon. It has only sharpened the sense of alienation and resentment brutalizing a country that had just begun to reclaim its heritage of inter-ethnic and inter-religious harmony after years of conflict,” he said. “I would recommend that we constitute a suitable high level group for West Asia. This group could undertake a sustained mission to promote understanding in the region and assist in the implementation of the agreed roadmap toward a comprehensive peace,” he said.
On the energy front Singh also proposed a NAM working group on energy security, which he said his country would be prepared to coordinate. Manmohan argued that the United Nations should be at the forefront of progress in international relations.
“The United Nations played a creative and critical role in shaping the international agenda in the past,” he said. “It has to do so again.
“Reforming the UN and revitalizing the General Assembly is a pressing imperative. The developing world must find its due representation among the permanent members of the Security Council,” Manmohan said. They five permanent council members are the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China.
Singh also said he would work to launch a new NAM initiative on nuclear disarmament. “We would invite fellow members of NAM to join us in our efforts to achieve universal nuclear disarmament, and a world free of all nuclear weapons.” Nuclear powers India and Pakistan were expected to play a key role during the NAM’s meeting of national leaders on Friday and Saturday.
Manmohan and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who both arrived on Thursday, planned to meet on the sidelines of the summit in a bid to restart negotiations on the decades-old conflict over Kashmir, a Himalayan territory shared by the two countries but claimed in its entirety by both.
