By NNN-PTI,
Colombo : Warning that terrorism has emerged as the “single biggest threat” to stability, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on asked SAARC countries to jointly battle the “ideologies of hatred” and those seeking to destroy their social fabric.
“Terrorism continues to rear its ugly head in our region. It remains the single biggest threat to our stability,” Singh said while addressing the eight-nation SAARC summit here on Saturday.
Terrorism was high on the agenda of the two-day summit being attended by Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and leaders from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives and Afghanistan apart from India.
“We cannot afford to lose the battle against the ideologies of hatred, fanaticism and against all those who seek to destroy our social fabric,” he said.
The Prime Minister will meet Gilani here to convey India’s concerns over the ISI links in the suicide bomb attack on Indian embassy in Kabul as also the recent ceasefire violations by the Pakistani forces along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.
Singh, whose visit to the Sri Lankan capital comes close on the heels of the serial blasts in Ahmedabad and Bangalore and attempts in Surat, said “we must act jointly and with determination to fight this scourge (of terrorism).”