Orlando massacre: Pranab calls for coordinated anti-terror fight

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, on a three-nation African tour, has expressed his grief over the Orlando mass shooting that left 50 people dead and has emphasised on the need to coordinate global efforts to fight terrorism.

Mukherjee said he was "shocked and deeply saddened" at the killings at a gay bar in Orlando, Florida.

"This event is yet another grim reminder that the world must come together to address, comprehensively and urgently, the scourge of terrorism, its perpetrators and also those who support or harbour them," the Indian President said.

"India condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. We believe that there can be no justification for such senseless acts of violence."

Mukherjee's message to the Ghananian leadership was also on similar lines as he expressed solidarity with the African people wherever they are hit by terrorism.

As a victim of the "global menace" for the past three decades, India believed that terrorism knew no religion, no ideology, Mukherjee said at the banquet hosted in his honour by President John Dramani Mahama.

Mukherjee applauded Ghana's role in promoting cooperation among the African nations and with India, as Mahama had underlined during the India-Africa Forum III last year.

The Indian President congratulated the Ghanaian leadership for moving the country to the low-middle income group and becoming one of the major African economies.

India and Ghana, he said, shared common experiences of the past. He quoted Tagore's famous lines on "Ethiopia" to underline the Indian empathy for the African people who had freed themselves after years of colonialism.

He offered Indian investments and assistance in a whole range of economic and development activities to boost the African endeavour.

A number of agreements are scheduled to be signed at Accra where Mukherjee will interact with the businessmen and members of the 10,000 strong Indian community.

Mukherjee arrived here on Sunday on the first leg of his three-nation tour that will also take him to Cote D'Ivoire and Namibia as part of India's outreach to Africa to consolidate ties with the continent.

--IANS

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