This month marks the 75th anniversary of the partition of British India into two countries: Hindustan and Pakistan. Some years ago we featured Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Lajwanti, a Partition story from an Indian viewpoint. In honor of the occasion, we are pleased to provide this story from the Pakistan side by controversial writer Saadat Hasan Manto. This is not your usual Partition story of mass displacement and violence. Instead, it is a clever satire of the governments of the two countries, as reflected in a decision several years later to exchange institutionalized lunatics. Themes: insanity, separation, religious segregation, nationality, confusion, belonging. More…
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The Dog of Tithwal
This story from Saadat Hasan Manto takes place during the first Indo-Pakistan (Kashmir) War, which commenced just two months after the 1947 formation of the two countries. The war was a form of “Mexican standoff”. This is reflected in the plot, where soldiers break their boredom with occasional shots towards the enemy camp that have no chance of hitting anyone. The treatment and killing of Jhun Jhun for “refusing” to take sides is symbolic of the suffering of civilians caught up in the conflict. Themes: natural peace and harmony vs. mankind’s propensity for violence, futility, innocence, distrust, cruelty, human suffering. More…