Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik Sunday created a sand sculpture on peace in Odisha ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to India.

Pattnaik created the five-foot sculpture of Sharif and Indian Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi, bearing a message “Peace gets a chance”, on a beach in Puri, 55 km from state capital Bhubaneswar.

“Modi has invited all the leaders of the Saarc countries to his oath-taking ceremony. I would like to congratulate Modiji for his good initiative to invite the Pakistani prime minister. I hope it will create good relations between the two countries,” Pattnaik said.

The sculpture of both the leaders also has the national flags of the two countries.

“I used about six tonnes of sand with some coloured sand. It took four hours to complete it,” he said.

Pattnaik, a native of Puri, was this year conferred with the Padma Shri award.