India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday made an unscheduled stop at a Catholic church bombed during the Easter suicide attacks ahead of his official welcome to Sri Lanka.
Modi’s entourage made a detour to St Anthony’s shrine on their way to President Maithripala Sirisena’s office, where a red carpet military parade awaited.
“I am confident Sri Lanka will rise again,” Modi said on Twitter while posting photos of himself at the church.
“Cowardly acts of terror cannot defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka. India stands in solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka.”
Modi is stopping in Colombo on his return home after an official visit to neighbouring Maldives, where he inaugurated a coastal radar system and military training centre.
His brief but politically significant visit to the two neighbours comes as New Delhi seeks to fend off Chinese influence on the strategic nations.
The Maldives, a low-lying archipelago of more than a thousand tiny coral islands south of the Indian subcontinent, straddles the world’s busiest east-west maritime route.
Sri Lanka is located at a halfway point on the same sea route.
