In what seems to be an irony, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, the country accused by India of promoting cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, will be one of the main speakers at a day-long conference on 'Fighting Terrorism for Humanity' in New York on Monday.
The conference, to be inaugurated by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is being organised by Norwegian Mission to the United Nations in association with the International Peace Academy, an independent body.
Among others who will address the conference are Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who arrived in New York on Friday evening from Turkey for a week long visit, has also been invited to address the conference, the organisers said.
Also see: Complete coverage of PM's visit
"They (the organisers) would try till the last moment to have him [Vajpayee] at the conference," an IPA official said.
But that does not seem likely to happen. According the official release issued on the prime minister's engagements, Vajpayee is expected to have bilateral meetings at the UN on Monday morning.
The organisers said the purpose of the conference is to identify the roots and origins of terrorism from factors that have 'weaker links with terror.'
Asked if specific terrorism problems will be discussed, the official said he did not think the discussions would be very specific. "I don't think it is going to focus on one particular issue. It is going to be generally global in nature," the official said.
