President prays for peace, happiness of mankind

Bali, Indonesia, Nov 29 (UNI) Shaken by the terror attacks in Mumbai, the commercial hub of India, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil today went to a temple and prayed for the peace and prosperity of humankind all over the world.

The President, who arrived here late last night from Hanoi to commence her five-day state visit to Indonesia, went to the historic Taman Ayun temple and offered 'puja' and made appeal to the people all over the world to shun violence and collectively fight the menace of terrorism which was a blot on humanity.

''I prayed for peace and prosperity of India and other countries.

I prayed to God to bestow good sense to the people, so that such acts of terror do not occur again,'' she told the mediapersons accompanying her on the tour.

Ms Patil, who planted a sapling of Mango Stein at the temple, of Nirankar Brahma as it has no idols, said it was high time that the people from all regions and communities come together and decide to jointly work for peace and happiness of the world and root out terrorism.

Such kind of terror will do ''no good for any country and anybody. It is high time that a collective international effort is made to face this problem,'' she said.

Shifting the focus of her visits to Vietnam and Indonesia from goodwill to diplomacy, the President said for the past three days during her talks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and General-Secretary of the Community party of Vietnam Nong Duc Manh, she had expressed her concern over such kind of violence and they felt the need to act jointly against terrorism which had international manifestation.

She would raise this issue during her meetings with Indonesian President and other leaders. ''I am confident that Indonesia, which had also faced this kind of terror acts in Bali and some other places, would also be equally concerned about the problem and support her view.

About 200 people were killed in a terrorist strike in Bali a few years ago.

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