ALMATY, June 1: Most of the heads of states and governments of 16 countries, including India and Pakistan, are gathering here on Tuesday to adopt the historic Almaty Act and Declaration on Eliminating Terrorism and Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations.

This would be the first summit of the heads of member states of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) which was originally planned for November but was postponed because of the Sept 11 attacks.

Besides, a senior level meeting would be held here on Sunday to take into account Pakistan’s stand that the final declaration should not contain anything against the right of self-determination to be granted to the people of occupied Kashmir.

An official of the Pakistan embassy told journalists that Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev, the host of the conference, was enthusiastic to make the summit a success and that’s why he was trying

to accommodate the points of view of all the member states. India and Israel, both members of CICA, were reportedly trying to get the word self-determination removed from the final draft.

There were no indications of a Musharraf-Vajpayee meeting on the sidelines of the conference. The Indian prime minister would be on a bilateral visit to Kazakhstan while the Pakistan leader would be briefly here to attend the meeting.

Officials in Almaty did not rule out the possibility of President Musharraf extending his stay in Almaty.

They said that President Vladimir Putin was in touch with the observers of the conference to make Indian and Pakistani leaders sit across the table with a view to removing the chances of a conflict between the two countries.

CICA’s 16 members include Afghanistan, China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Egypt, Israel, Iran, Kazakhstan, Palestine, Tajikistan and Turkey.