Progressives and “Perverts”: Partition Stories

and Pakistan’s Future.

Kamran Asdar Ali

British India Map before Partition -1947

Pakistan-1947

Jinnah, Mountbatten and Nehru

Jinnah and Gandhi

Gandhi and Jinnah

The Two Major PartiesIndian National Congress and All India Muslim League

Sa`adat Hasan Manto1912-1955

Partition 1947

Manto, Quote 1.

....... no one had given it a thought that after such a revolution things would not remain the same. Whether small alleys would become large highways or their existence would be completely lost, we did not have an answer. Would there be a difference between the governance by foreigners or by those we call our own, about this people were not sure either. How would the new cultural and social atmosphere nurture our thoughts and feelings? What would be the relationship between the state, government, community and the individual? These were issues that we needed to seriously concentrate on.

Manto, Sa’adat Hasan. (1990) Jaib-e-Kafan (The Shroud’s Pocket) in Manto Nama. Lahore: Sang e Meel Press. (first published in 1951 as the introduction to the volume of collected short stories, Yazid).

Bombay 1947

Homeless-British Soldiers and Families Return to South Hampton-1947

Going Home to Bombay-1947

Coming to Karachi-October 1947

Marine Drive-BombayLate 1940s

Trams in Karachi-1947

Karachi in 1940s

Manto, Quote 2.

There is a desire in me to write. But when I sit down to write my thoughts become chaotic. Even after trying, I cannot separate Hindustan from Pakistan and Pakistan from Hindustan. Continuously this question arises in my mind. Will Pakistan’s literature be different? If yes, then how? All that was written in undivided Hindustan who will claim that literature, will it now also be divided? Are the basic problems of our people on both sides not the same?

Manto, Sa‘adat Hasan. Zehmat Meher Darakhshan. The lines were cited in

Hanfi, Shameem, 2008. Adab Me Insan Dosti ka Tassawar (The Concept of Humanism in Literature). Dunyazad (Karachi), number 21 p.24.

Dividing a Library-1947

Map of Pakistan Today

Ethnicities and Languages, Pakistan

• Urdu is the National Language of Pakistan. It is Linked to the emergence of Muslim Nationalism in South Asia.

• The Major Linguistic and Cultural Groups are Punjabi, Baluch, Pashtun, Sindhi and Mohajir (Urdu speaking, those who migrated from India). Until 1971, Bangla or Bengali.

• Only Eight Percent of the Population Speaks Urdu as its First Language

Communists in a Muslim Land

Communist Party of PakistanCPP

Founded in March of 1948 During the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Second Congress in Calcutta.

• Syed Sajjad Zaheer was elected secretary general and asked to go to Pakistan.

• The Congress also endorsed a radical policy for the CPI under the new leadership of B.T. Ranadive (1948-50).

• The CPP in its initial years took its ideological line from CPI.

Syed Sajjad Zaheer (1905-1973). Literary Figure and First Secretary General of CPPof Pakistan (1948-1951)

Progressive Writers AssociationPWA

• The Progressive Writers Association was one of the most influential literary movements in the decade that preceded the partition of British India.

• Formed by a group of Indian students like Mulk Raj Anand and Sajjad Zaheer who were living in England during the 1930s.

• The Association from its very inception was influenced by socialist and Marxist tendencies.

• Although PWA was open to all who broadly agreed with its manifesto – that called for a new literature that addressed progressive ideals and focused on the issue of poverty, deprivation and servitude of the Indian masses -- it soon became closely aligned with the CPI.

• The All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association (APPWA) was a continuation of the All India Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA) and similarly closely affiliated with the newly formed CPP.

Partition, Progressives and “Perversion”

Sa’adat Hasan MantoSiah Hashye (Black Margins)

1948

Ahmad Nadeem QasmiPoet, Short Story Writer, Critic

1916-2006 Sec.General of All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association in 1948

Discussion in Literary Gathering on Siah Hashye. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (ANQ): In the initial section of the article the author claims that Manto

unveils social wounds, but does not provide the treatment. In my opinion there has to be a difference between literature and writer. An artist who merely sketches social portraits can also be progressive. In addition how does the writer come to the conclusion that Manto does not analyze his characters from a social perspective or that his short stories are reflective of death or his protagonists are primarily individualistic? It is possible that Manto does not have the remedy for social problems, but it is incorrect to say that he has only portrayed weak and tired characters. For example in Halfia Biyan (Deposition under Oath, a short story in the volume) he has suggested ways of understanding our changing society and Khol Do (Open It) is a successful example of his realistic temperament. We should not create a final impression of Manto’s work until we have read all his stories.

Another writer argued; Hameed Akhtar Qureshi (HAQ): Manto mostly has sick characters very few of them seem healthy. A

majority of his characters are abnormal. After further discussion and severe criticism of Manto’s text, Qasmi ends the discussion by

backtracking on his earlier support by saying; ANQ: The writer should have written this paper with more detail and clarity. However, I am in

agreement with the paper’s argument about Manto’s text. In this new book Manto’s abnormality has reached its zenith. I regretfully say that while reading Siah Hashiye I felt as if dead bodies were scattered all over a large field and the short story writer was stealing money and cigarettes from their pockets.

Ali Sardar Jafri Progressive Urdu Poet and Critic

1913-2000

N.M. Rashed Modernist Urdu and Persian Poet

1910-1975

The Writer Responds

Sa’adat HasanManto

Other Ways of Being Human

Mohammad Hasan Askari 1919-1978

Writer, Literary Critic and Translator

• I am human, the same human who has always betrayed humanity and has sold other humans as commodities in the market place. I am the same human who has attained the heights of prophethood, yet also the same human who has murdered many of them as well. I have all the same positive and negative aspects within me that any other human possesses.

Manto, Sa’adat Hasan (1990) Jaib-e-Kafan (The Shroud’s

Pocket)

What About the Future?

Krishan ChandarProgressive Writer and Intellectual

1914-1977

Peshawar ExpressBy

Krishan Chandar

Manto