UNITED NATIONS, Sept 20: President Pervez Musharraf on Monday asked rich nations to either write-off or re-profile the immense debt burden of the Third World countries.

Addressing a meeting of the world leaders on Action Against Hunger and Poverty, Gen Musharraf pointed out that the "debt service liabilities of these countries is such a burden on their exchequer that they cannot possibly divert funds towards the social sector or human resource development".

Emphasising the need for lowering interest rates for the developing nations countries to pay off their debts, he said that "this is a much better way of assisting the poor rather than providing aid under conditionalities".

Gen Musharraf made an impassioned plea to the leaders of the developed nations to take measures to return the looted wealth of the poor nations by their corrupt former leaders.

"The illicit transfer of looted funds by corrupt leaders themselves from developing countries to the banks in developed countries is a major source of capital flight," he asserted.

Pakistan's leader proposed creation of an "international regime" to curb the flight of capital from the developing countries and to repatriate the looted wealth. "Similarly" he said: "Creation of tax havens also indirectly provide an incentive to evade tax and encourage capital flight."

Saying that "mechanism must be devised to discourage this trend", he asked the "developed countries to return the looted wealth or reduce or eliminate the debts of the poor nations.