Sir: All nations hold festivals for fun and frolic. But timing and context are very important. On the one hand, we are faced with death and destruction and see people mourning with dead bodies lying on the roads with no trace of the culprits. And this is done not once, but over and over again. And on the other side we have youthful leaders of two eminent political parties inviting the nation to participate in festivals arranged with public money. In Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’, a character says: “But indeed sir, we make holiday to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph.” To which the other one replies: “Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings him home? What tributaries follow him to Rome? What have our Caesars achieved for us to rejoice?” MUHAMMAD AKBAR Lahore