Former President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday paid homage to the 'martyrs' of Karsaz tragedy and vowed to continue war against religious fanaticism and bigotry. Asif Zardari, in a message on ninth anniversary of Karsaz tragedy, said the battle lines were drawn on October 18, 2007 between democracy and pluralism on the one hand and religious fanaticism and bigotry on the other. "The battle lines have only sharpened during the past nine years and beckon us to continue the fight till final victory,"
He said nine years ago on this day Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan from exile, defying all odds and warnings, because she sensed that Pakistan was faced with existential threat from the bigots and religious fanatics on the one hand and dictatorship on the other. He said it was on this day when the enemies of democracy and Pakistan, who were waiting brutaly, attacked her caravan. Nearly 200 PPP workers and democrats embraced martyrdom in the cause of democracy and freedom from dictatorship, religious bigots and extremists, he added.
"Today we salute the martyrs; they are the heroes and heroines. They are strength of the nation. In laying down their lives they have raised our hopes and steeled our determination," he remarked. Asif Zardari reiterated the pledge to fulfil the mission of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto to uphold democracy and defeat militants, and those who flaunt their bigoted version of religion to advance their anti-democracy and anti-women agenda. "As we remember the martyrs of Karsaz let us also remember in our prayers the personnel of the armed forces, civil law enforcing agencies and the people who have made untold sacrifices in the fight against extremism," he said.
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