Former President Pranab Mukherjee
A day after 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, former President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that he was "pained by the inhuman act perpetrated by terrorists".
Releasing a compilation of speeches of Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi, the former president said, "We must stand together as a nation in this hour of grief."
The former president also said that the response of international community in condemning the terror attack in one voice would strengthen the resolve to fight terrorism.
The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.
Alluding to Pakistan's role in Thursday's terror attack, Vice President Naidu said at the event that "our neighbour" has been "aiding, abetting, funding, training terror groups for long".
Naidu also stated that such an attempt to "destabilise and impede" the country's progress would no longer be tolerated.
The vice president also said that terror reared its ugly head Thursday and Indians must stand together with a resolve to make every inch of "our motherland safer".
