PESHAWAR, Feb 22: The NWFP Governor, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, has urged the countrymen to shun their petty difference and rise to the call of the hour to make their homeland not only a real Islamic welfare state but also an invincible and prosperous country.

In a message issued on Eidul Azha, the governor said that the nation had passed through different hours of tests during the last more than half a century and mostly it had demonstrated unprecedented sense of awareness, brotherhood, solidarity and cohesion not only among its own ranks and files but also towards the cause of international peace.

He specially referred to the help and assistance extended by the people of NWFP to the shelterless Afghan refugees during the last more than two decades and said this gesture of our people had also been recognized by the world community.

In fact, he said, all such services being offered to the needy people were in line with the spirit of the unprecedented sacrifice offered by the Great Prophet Hazrat Ibrahim (AS), which had laid a multi-dimensional lesson for the entire humanity for all times to come.

Now once again, he said, the prevailing situation on our borders together with certain sensitive issues being faced by the country internally also demand the same spirit of rising above the sectarianism and other internal differences and maintaining complete unity and fraternity in our ranks to face these challenges.

At the same time, the governor said, we must not ignore our needy fellow citizens and should try to the maximum extent to enable them to join us in the happy moments of the Eid.