India, Pakistan may not meet at NAM

NEW DELHI: Both India and Pakistan will attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur from February 20 to 25. However, there might not be a meeting between Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf.
Though Musharraf still calls the shots, Pakistan may be represented by its new prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.Ministry of external affairs officials here are non-committal about a Vajpayee-Jamali meeting on the sidelines of the meet.
They caution that relations between India and Pakistan are at the lowest level ever and said no major breakthrough is expected at Kuala Lumpur.
Terrorism is expected to emerge as a dominant theme at the first NAM summit to be held after the September 11 attacks. US threats against Iraq are also likely to figure with a majority of NAM countries opposed to the notion of ‘regime change’ and the unilateral use of force.
India would like to use the occasion to seek support from the other members against cross-border terrorism and will raise the issue.
In fact, while speaking of non-alignment recently, external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said: "The time has come to view its meetings with a renewed sense of purpose. New challenges have emerged, new directions have to be found against terror which wounds the borders and strikes the innocent."
The Malaysian foreign minister Syed Hamid had recently said the meet was likely to focus on terrorism, an issue which Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir spoke of at length.
While Mahathir has criticised the stereotyping of Muslims by the West, he has also addressed the Islamic community.