Four faith and o­ne local social movement today urged the upcoming 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to adopt a collective stand to reject a possible war by the United States o­n Iraq.

They also called o­n the superpower to disarm before asking others to do so.

The heads of these groups president of the International Movement for A Just World (Just) Dr Chandra Muzaffar, Professor Joseph Camilleri of the Melbourne-based International Christian Movement, Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa of Bangkok's International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Dr Ahmad Syafii Maarif of Jakarta's Muhammadiyah, and Swami Agnivesh of New Delhi's World Council of Arya Samaj said the time has come for NAM to be "invested with new meaning and new life".

They said this in a joint statement released by Chandra during a press conference at the Just office in Damansara Jaya, Selangor.

Copies of the statement were sent to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday.

The summit will be held at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 20-25.