Saturday, September 16 2006 14:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Havana: In a formulation that can still cause discomfort to Pakistan, the draft declaration of the Non-Aligned Movement disapproves of support to Taliban from whichever source, an apparent reference to Islamabad, andhas deleted some description of terror taking into account India's concerns.

The draft declaration, which was held up on the issue of Western Sahara conflict between Algeria and Morocco, has now been approved for consideration at the Ministerial-level before it is approved at the summit-level.

However, the resolution is understood to have been watered down to some extent with the deletion of the word state in the context of support to Taliban.

Indian officials involved in negotiations over the draft document said Afghanistan, which received New Delhi's support, was insistent that the final formulation should express concern over terror created wherever and by whomsoever including the state.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghanistan counterpart Hamid Karzai, both of whom are here to attend the summit, may have discussed the issue in a bid to sort it out.

The final declaration is understood to have said "The Heads of State and Government express deep concern over resurfacing of extremist groups in Southern Afghanistan".

The original formulation had made a reference to support to Taliban by the state, an apparently stronger indication to Pakistan, and was later deleted.

Officials said India had insisted during discussions in Putrajaya that "no state" would help terrorists. The final draft says no state would help terrorists and Pakistan had to accept it.

India wanted deletions to the role of state intervention in conflict resolution on the ground that NAM should not get into it as discussions would get 'fixated' on it.

Another reference to settlement of all international issues in conformity with the UN charter was also opposed by India which felt NAM should not get involved into it.

"So, this formulation was also out of the document," the officials said.

They said Cuba, the summit hosts and Egypt, one of the important members involved in negotiations, acted responsibly.

The declaration, which is essentially a product of consensus the NAM always follows, is a balanced statement accommodating all concerns, the officials said pointing to the inclusion of the word 'hegemony', a Cuban favourite for its attacks on the United States.

It would be unthinkable that words like 'hegemony' or critical references to globalisation could not be included in a conference held in Cuba, they said. But all sharp references to globalisation were deleted.

India's another important mention in the document is the conflict in Lebanon, a reference to which was made by the Prime Minister who called for a high-level working group to mediate in the conflict resolution.

Yet, another significant reference in the document is the call by NAM for immediate "unconditional resumption of dialogue" for resolving the Iranian nuclear stand-off.

The negotiations saw to it that the IAEA language on the nuclear crisis was avoided in an attempt to soothe feelings of Teheran which has sought NAM shelter on the issue.

There is no substitute for dialogue, it was pointed out as the NAM did not not want to throw the book on Iran.