Democracy and globalisation will be the new mantra at the upcoming Non Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Malaysia. With the NAM word becoming a relic of the cold war, the 115 members states are now focusing on revitalising the Movement. The emphasis is on multilateral economic issues and strengthening cooperation among developing nations.Spelling out New Delhi’s viewpoint, Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal today said there would be no deliberations on regional conflict issues in the Summit at Kuala Lumpur. Instead, India would adopt a multilateral approach giving preference to issues common to most member countries.There are, however, indications that the Kashmir issue could crop up for debate with Pakistan leaving no stone unturned in cobbling support. There are also hints that there could be friction within NAM over the definition of terrorism with some countries focusing on root causes of terrorism.But Sibal said New Delhi was against any move to go into the root causes of terrorism. ‘‘To us, anyone who talks of root causes is supporting terrorism. If the root cause is poverty, then poverty won’t go away. If root cause is religious fundamentalism, that won’t go away!’’Referring to Pakistan President Gen Musharraf’s talk on having a definition of terrorism, Sibal said Islamabad wanted a definition to justify that it does not indulge in the kind of terrorism. Sibal was confident that Pakistan would be the sole country to raise the Kashmir issue. ‘‘We don’t need to worry on this as only one country mentions Kashmir and it will refer to it anywhere. But there are other issues to be addressed at the NAM Summit.’’Conceding that the ongoing uncertainty over Iraq will not escape deliberations at NAM, Sibal said New Delhi was not in favour of the Summit indulging in some sort of conflict resolution. ‘‘I can understand this role if there were not other issues to address, but NAM countries have a lot of other concerns.’’The final declaration, Sibal said, would concentrate on revitalisation of NAM. The emphasis would be on promoting multilateralism by democratising multilateral institutions which would include reforms in financial institutions like the World Trade Organisation.Sibal also said NAM should recognise the threat posed by terrorism. The Movement, he added, would have to oppose international unilateralism while promoting a multilateral approach to resolve problems faced by NAM countries.
