Indian President urges action to end militant acts

INDONESIA: Indian President Pratibha Patil urged the international community to come together in ending violent militant acts after a prayer at a Hindu temple in Bali, Indonesia.

Patil is on a six-day visit to Indonesia, and has continued a tour of Southeast Asia despite the deadly militant attacks in Mumbai.

“I hope this is the right time for people of all the regions and communities to work together for peace and happiness for mankind,” Patil told reporters.

She said that prior to her visit to Indonesia she had met Vietnamese leaders, who had also condemned the extremist acts.

“It has been unanimously decided that terrorism is high on the agenda of the international community and we must jointly and relentlessly fight it,” Patil said after praying with local leaders on the island.

Indonesia was hit by Islamist extremists in 2002 when bombs claimed the lives of 202 people.

“I prayed for the peace and happiness of mankind, peace and prosperity for India and other countries. I prayed that good sense prevails on all the people so that such acts of terrorism not occur again.”

Patil is scheduled to meet her Indonesian counterpart Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta on Monday, a spokesman for Indonesia’s foreign ministry said.

The visit by the Indian president is a follow-up to a 2005 state visit by Yudhoyono to India. A number of agreements are set to be made, including on youth development, sport and agriculture, according to the foreign ministry

A spokesman for the Indian embassy in Jakarta, Sugandra Jaram, earlier said he was unaware of any plan to abandon Patil’s trip in light of militant attacks on the Indian commercial capital of Mumbai, which killed at least 155 people.

Denpasar, Monday, AFP