World leaders seek new answers to old questions on root causes of terror

23 September 2003, 18:00 PM

AFP, New York

The old adage of one man's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter reared its head Monday at a summit of world leaders on the root causes of terrorism. While there was unanimity among the nearly 20 heads of state and government that terrorist acts could never be justified, there were questions raised over what separated an act of terrorism from an act of justified resistance. In a keynote address to the summit, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf called on the United Nations to produce a new definition of terrorism -- one that would recognise "legitimate" armed resistance movements in the Palestinian territories and Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Those who are committing state terrorism against occupied peoples, often depict their legitimate movements for self-determination as terrorism," Musharraf said. "While (India) persists in its violent suppression of the Kashmiri people, they have a legitimate right to resist Indian occupation. Equating their freedom struggle with terrorism is a travesty," he added. India accuses Pakistan of arming, training and funding rebels in Indian Kashmir. Pakistan contends it provides only moral and diplomatic support to an "indigenous" uprising and charges that India is guilty of rampant human rights abuses. India was not represented at the round-table summit, but an indirect rebuttal of Musharraf's stance was given by Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister of Spain, which has long been battling the militant wing of Basque separatism. Aznar said it was crucial to eliminate the "mystique" of justifiable struggle that terrorists often seek to attach to their actions in order to "divert attention from the ignominy of the act to the nobility of the cause." Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov also appeared to back a tighter definition of terrorism as he urged the international community to work towards the "consistent eradication of double standards" over the issue. The one-day "Fighting Terrorism for Humanity" conference was the joint brainchild of Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik and Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel. The summit aimed to focus on the "root causes" of terrorism in a bid to find long-term responses beyond military or police action. Among the nearly 20 heads of state and government attending were French President Jacques Chirac, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. In an opening address to the conference, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan trod a delicate line between condemning terrorism of any sort and urging the redress of injustices appropriated by terrorist groups. "The fact that a few wicked men or women commit murder in its name does not make a cause any less just," Annan said "Terrorism will only be defeated if we act to solve the political disputes or long-standing conflicts that generate support for it," he said. "If we do not, we shall find ourselves acting as recruiting sergeants for the very terrorists we seek to suppress." The US representative at the summit, the chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, insisted that the top priority was to prevent militants from obtaining nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. "For the foreseeable future, the intelligence community will face an extensive threat from the intersection of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction," Lugar said. "Addressing this situation will require an unwavering commitment."