January 20, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Jan 19: People must challenge and drive out those who are behind the “facade of curbing extremism and terrorism (because they) are conspiring to perpetuate their illegal hold on power”, the co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Asif Ali Zardari, said in an Ashura message on Saturday.

The PPP co-chairman condemned sectarian violence and urged the people to rise above sectarianism and forge unity among their ranks. “The need for harmony and tolerance has never been as great as it is today.”

He said the supreme sacrifice offered by Hazrat Imam Hussain had a lesson that tyranny, oppression and falsehood should be resisted at all costs.

“Hazrat Imam Hussain stands at the apex of those who illuminate the path with their blood for generations to come,” he said. “While we pay homage to the martyrs of Karbala and reflect on lessons of their supreme sacrifices, we should … ask ourselves whether we are prepared to offer sacrifices for a just cause.”