Some thoughts during the observance of Ashura from Pakistan.
Hussain had to die because he alone refused to live in denial of the fact that Yazid was establishing a tyranny, one that he would not endorse even though a majority of those around him chose to look the other way. The lesson of Karbala is to stand up to oppression and coercion at all times. The denial so prevalent in Pakistan today that no Muslim can indulge in causing the kind of death and destruction the Taliban and Al Qaeda are accused of unleashing on our cities must give way to the realisation that a bigger enemy lurks within. It must not be allowed to cow us into submission.
Intolerance, extremism and the coercion the militants seek to impose on society must be condemned, stood up against and disowned. Those who died in the desert of Iraq hundreds of years ago were innocent, just like those who die today when suicide bombers strike, killing and maiming our men, women and children. This tyranny, too, must be resisted.
