ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former president Asif Ali Zardari “condemned the unleashing of tyrannical forces of the state against political opposition” in the country.

“Tyranny, oppression and injustice have never triumphed, it shall not triumph in this case also,” the former president said in his message sent from Adiala jail and released by the party’s media office on the eve of Yaum-ul-Ashura on Monday.

In his message, Mr Zardari also asked the people to rise above parochialism and forge unity among their ranks against all tyrannical forces. “The need for it has never been as great as it is today,” he said.

“The underlying message of Yaum-ul-Ashura is to resist falsehood, tyranny and oppression at all costs, at all times and under all circumstances,” said Mr Zardari who has been in jail with his sister Faryal Talpur on judicial remand for the past two months in connection with the fake bank accounts case.

Mr Zardari in his message also paid tribute to the people of India-held Kashmir. “On this day our thoughts are also with the people of India-held Kashmir and Palestine facing unprecedented ruthless repression and tyranny,” he said.

Meanwhile, in his message on the Ashura, PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that falsehood and oppression were the tools of militants and extremists employing false notions of religiosity.

“The people must be watchful against the designs of such bigots and fanatics,” Mr Bhutto-Zardari said.

“The abiding lesson of the ultimate sacrifice rendered by Imam Hussain and his companions is to resist oppression, tyranny and falsehood even at the cost of one’s life and under the most trying of circumstances,” the PPP chairman said, adding that Imam Hussain belongs to that rare category of humankind who redefined the meanings of life and death, of the victor and vanquished and his life is a beacon light to resist tyranny and falsehood.

The Yaum-ul-Ashura this year, he said, was significant because of the new wave of repression and tyranny against the people of India-held Kashmir as well as Palestine in particular and in many other parts of the world in general.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2019