Lucknow: President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday called upon all citizens to unitedly tackle the scourge of terrorism at a special convocation of Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow University where she was conferred the honorary doctorate of literature degree.

"It is the duty of every citizen of the country to cooperate in combating terrorism," said Patil at the function held amid tight security on the university's old campus.

She addressed over 1,000 people, including students, teachers and officials. During the convocation ceremony, the university conferred doctorate of literature (Honoris Causa) degree on Patil.

She said: "We have to divest hatred from the minds of some of our misguided youth to bring them to the path of peace, amity and communal harmony."

Patil termed terrorism and communal hatred as the enemies of development, stability and a peaceful society.

The president also paid tributes to inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.

Sharma, a Delhi Police Special Cell inspector, was killed in a shootout with suspected terrorists on Friday in national capital's Jamia Nagar. IANS