PM asks NAM to make efforts to dismantle terror infrastructure

I / Sharm El-sheikh (egypt) July 15, 2009, 19:01 IST

The two-day NAM summit opened today with a call from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the grouping to deny terrorists safe havens, make vigorous efforts to dismantle terror infrastructure and bring to justice terrorists and those who aid and abet them.

Addressing the plenary session, Singh also warned that there could be a period of prolonged stagflation if the aftermath of the global financial crisis was not carefully managed.

Singh, who will meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani tomorrow, told the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that in recent years terrorist groups have become more organised and more daring.

"Terrorists and those who aid and abet them must be brought to justice," Singh said without naming any country.

The Prime Minister will be meeting Gilani tomorrow to seek a categorical commitment from him that Pakistani soil will not be used for terror attacks directed against India.

In his address, Singh said the infrastructure of terrorism must be dismantled and there should be no safe havens for terrorists because they do not represent any cause, group or religion.

The Prime Minister made a strong pitch for the comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism mooted by India in the United Nations. "It is time that we agree" on such a convention, he said.