New Delhi: Asserting that the epicentre of instability was in the neighbourhood, President A P J Abdul Kalam, without naming Pakistan, on December 4 night said the international community should target not only those who perpetrated acts of terrorism but also those who assist, finance, sponsor or otherwise abet terrorists.

"Two years ago, on your previous visit to India, you had referred to the 'arc of instability' stretching from the Caucasus to South East Asia. The epicentre of this arc is of course our common neighbourhood," he said in his banquet speech in honour of the visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kalam said the recent hostage crisis in a Moscow theatre and the attack on temples in Jammu testified to the ruthlessness with which terrorists threaten ordinary, innocent persons on the street. "We know that such acts were often undertaken with foreign assistance," he said.

PTI