Bitter Fruit presents the best collection of Manto's writings, from his short stories, plays and sketches, to portraits of cinema artists, a few pieces on himself, and his letters to Uncle Sam which have references to communism, Russia, politics after the Partition and his own financial condition. The concluding section of the book has acknowledgements and reminiscences from Saadat's friends and relatives. Bitter Fruit includes stories like A Wet Afternoon, The Return, A Believer's Version, Toba Tek Singh, Colder Than Ice, The Assignment, Odour, By The Roadside, Bribing the Almighty, The Kingdom's End, The Woman in the Red Raincoat, The Room with the Bright Light, The Great Divide, The Angel, Siraj, An Old Fashioned Man, The Price of Freedom, It Happened in 1919, The Girl from Delhi, A Man of God, Free for All, and A Tale of 1947. There is a collection of sketches too. Manto used to write radio plays and this book has one of the dramas he penned, called In This Vortex. His short stories bring out the most delicate nuances of human nature.

    The Muslims had to grapple with a nation that had suddenly become unrecognizable and where they found themselves to be second-class citizens. Not used to the Urdu, the mosques and the new avatars of domination, they were bewildered by the new Islamic state of Pakistan. Sindh as a nation had simultaneously become elusive for both communities. In Unbordered Memories we witness Sindhis from India and Pakistan making imaginative entries into each other’s worlds. Many stories in this volume testify to the Sindhi Muslims’ empathy for the world inhabited by the Hindus, and the Indian Sindhis’ solidarity with the turbulence experienced by Pakistani Sindhis. These writings from both sides of the border fiercely critique the abuse of human dignity in the name of religion and national borders. They mock the absurdity of containing subcontinental identities within the confines of nations and of equating nations with religions. And they continually generate a shared, unbordered space for all Sindhis— Hindus and Muslims.

    The story of twin brothers, Taimur and Saif, and how they solved a mystery involving Kohistan House, and the Aagnee Ruby.

    And, like governments, people get the historians they deserve. This book tries to seek some explanations of this massive failure. Is historical resource material available in our libraries, archives, and museums? Why don’t people preserve papers of historical importance? Why don’t leaders write their memoirs? Why does the All India Muslim League still lack a chronicler, Jinnah his biographer, and all major movement and parties their historians? Why is historian discouraged from objectively prying into the past? Why are Pakistanis indifferent to their history? How are out history teachers trained, appointed, promoted and how is history taught?The historian ought to have a command of several languages if he is to base his inquiry on original sources. Is the Pakistani historian equipped for this? How are historian treated by publishers and reviewers? In this book, the greatest living historian of the country answers these questions with his usual perception, grasp, and verve. What he says should interest all those who make, write, interpret, read and teach history.

    . . Hindu or not, he wasn’t, goddamnit, going anywhere.’ Lahore, 1947. Dina Lal, a true-blue Lahori, refuses to leave, staying put in Five Queen’s Road, a house he bought, in spite of his wife’s greatest misgivings, from an Englishman who was deeply reluctant to part with it. To insulate his family from the mayhem on the streets, Dina Lal converts to Islam and as added protection invites Amir Shah, a Muslim colleague, and his children, Javid and Rubina, to share the house with him. But the events that unfold over the next few months make a mockery of Dina Lal’s plans. While Dina Lal and Amir Shah cross swords with each other at every given opportunity—though unexpectedly and in spite of themselves rushing to the other’s defence in moments of crisis—a furtive friendship blossoms between Dina Lal and Javid. Ten years later Javid’s European wife, Irene, still struggling with her World War II memories, joins the tumultuous household. Inexplicably, the lines of the house are redrawn, and the new border is no less arbitrary and contentious than the one that sundered the subcontinent. While the house is steadily encroached upon by a car shop settlement and a sweepers’ colony, the occupants’ long-standing feud reaches new heights. But the family sees an unexpected alliance develop and loyalties, to person and nation, are scrutinized. In this stunning novel that weaves family saga and national history, Sorayya Khan writes deftly of characters who battle memories and each other alike.

    This most dangerous spot on the map may well be the source of another 9/11 type of attack on the Western world or its surrogates in the region. Should such an attack occur, it likely will be spawned in the militancy that grips FATA and contiguous areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan today. Failure to bring peace and to restore a modicum of stability to FATA will have widespread repercussions for the region and perhaps the world. This report attempts to define the conditions that spawn militancy and violence among the Pashtun tribesmen that inhabit FATA and to suggest measures that can be taken in the short term (next 1-2 years) and the medium term (next 3-5 years). Specific recommendations are directed individually to the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the United States, the Pakistani military, and the U.S. military and CENTCOM.

    In Pakistan, he is considered the 'saviour of the Muslims', protector of Islam and Islamic culture. In India he is dubbed as an 'evil-genius, a die-hard communalist, aseparatist, egoist, opponent of the freedom struggle, enemy of the Congress, particularly of Gandhi, an ally of the British imperialists and the one man responsible for the partition of the country. The real facts about Jinnah are suppressed by both Indian as well as Pakistani historians. The truth is that Jinnah was an uncompromising enemy of foreign rule from the very inception of his political career. He was a patriot, a secular nationalist, and an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity. He fought for Indian interests in the Imperial Legislative Assembly more vigorously than any otherIndian representative. He refused any title from the British and struggled for united India for forty years of his life. He resisted for long the proposal of partition and sought fair play and safeguards for the Muslim minority in united India and when Pakistan was won he advocated the same for theHindu minority. Secular and Nationalist Jinnah questions many of the myths that have grown round Jinnah's role in the freedom movement and reveals his true character to readers around the world.

    Early leaders selected Urdu as the natural symbol of the nation's great cultural past, but due to its limited base great efforts would be required to make it truly national. This paradox underscores the importance of cultural policies for national identity formation. By comparing Pakistan's experience with those of India and Indonesia, the author analyzes how their national language policies led to very different outcomes. The lessons of these large multiethnic states offer insights for the understanding of culture, identity, and nationalism throughout the world. The book is aimed at scholars in the fields of history, political theory and South Asian studies, as well as those interested in the history of culture and nationalism in one of the world's most complex, and challenging, countries.

    The thirty-four selections--translated from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, Hindavi, Dakhani, and other languages--highlight a wide variety of genres, many rarely found in standard accounts of Islamic practice, from oral narratives to elite guidance manuals, from devotional songs to secular judicial decisions arbitrating Islamic law, and from political posters to a discussion among college women affiliated with an "Islamist" organization. Drawn from premodern texts, modern pamphlets, government and organizational archives, new media, and contemporary fieldwork, the selections reflect the rich diversity of Islamic belief and practice in South Asia. Each reading is introduced with a brief contextual note from its scholar-translator, and Barbara Metcalf introduces the whole volume with a substantial historical overview.

    This train service was introduced as its name suggests (Samjhota means Agreement in both Hindi and Urdu) to enhance cordial relations between the two countries. The terrorist attack on Samjhota Express that killed 68 people (mostly Pakistanis) and injured many others was blamed once again on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Indian authorities claimed that the alleged perpetrator was named Rana Shaukat Ali and a photograph of the terrorist was released. But four months later, investigations proved that neither Rana nor Lashkar-e-Taiba but a serving lieutenant colonel of the Indian army, Lt. Col. Purohit was responsible for the terrorist attack on Samjhota Express. It was also proved that Lt. Col Purohit had links with Hindu militant groups and also provided training to extremists groups. In a sequel to the train bombings and continuation of the same conspiracy by Hindu extremists, once again the same drama was staged to malign Pakistan's image in front of the world to portray it as a sponsor of terrorism. Mumbai-Dance of The Devil has exposed the true circumstances and facts behind the Mumbai massacre that were never told by Indian media to the general public. Zaid Hamid once again successfully refutes the Indian dossier accusing Pakistan for these attacks. Zaid paints a bigger picture and proves that how the Indian intelligence agencies are working on a systematic conspiracy to encircle and defame Pakistan in the eyes of the world. Facts and analysis stated in this publication will surely change your perception of how the Mumbai attacks happened and will expose the responsible forces behind these attacks.

    Kargil was a landmark event not because of its duration or casualties, but because it contained a very real risk of nuclear escalation. Until the Kargil conflict, academic and policy debates over nuclear deterrence and proliferation occurred largely on the theoretical level. This deep analysis of the conflict offers scholars and policymakers a rare account of how nuclear-armed states interact during military crisis. Written by analysts from India, Pakistan, and the United States, this unique book draws extensively on primary sources, including unprecedented access to Indian, Pakistani, and U.S. government officials and military officers who were actively involved in the conflict. This is the first rigorous and objective account of the causes, conduct, and consequences of the Kargil conflict.

    It changed and morphed over two hundred years so that it now boasts of as many registers as there are languages and dialects within its geographical frontiers. From Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie and Raj Kamal Jha to Amit Choudhuri, Altaf Tyrewala, Padma Viswanathan and Tabish Khair, this book anthologises twenty-two major writers of fiction who, with their original narrative styles, have reinterpreted the region's turbulent history at both personal and national levels. The New Anthem confirms that many of the most brilliant storytellers of world literature were born in the Indian subcontinent. Ahmede Hussain weaves the anthology together to make it a testimony to the brilliance of South Asian fiction.