The Crooked Line: Terhi Lakir


Ismat Chughtai - 1944
    Writing with the same honesty and passion as her scandalous short-story, “The Quilt,” Chughtai exposes the complex relationships developed between women living and working in relative seclusion, and the intellectual and emotional contradictions lying in the heart of a rebellious country on the brink of independence from the British Raj and ultimately Partition.

Witness to Blunder: Kargil Story Unfolds


Ashfaq Hussain - 2008
    Published in September 2008, it coincides with the passing of a decade since the military operation was initiated on snow-tipped mountains in the winter of 1998-1999.

Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947–2016: A Concise History


Abdul Sattar - 2017
    It provides an insight into the making, implementation, and consequences of Pakistan’s foreign policy from Partition up to 2016. It will facilitate a deeper understanding of the strategic compulsions that have driven decision making in Pakistan’s national security and foreign policy.This book incorporates new contours in relations with India, the USA, China, and Afghanistan. Further updates pertain to developments in such key areas as terrorism, Kashmir, and the Middle East.

Crime after Crime


Tara W. Kent - 2014
    The duo’s attempt to crack the case before anymore killings suddenly becomes stifled by Alexander Kane, a soap opera actor hoping to turn method actor and claim higher rolls in the business.The trio forced together must cope with one another while hopefully breaking a case that seems to drag Kane further down the estranged path that holds its familiarities to his old life in the soaps.The intense role now being played by all the parties involved come quickly careening into a nightmare as the game being played turns into a means to teach the Detective’s and Kane of their shortcomings and their indiscretions against the potential serial killer waiting and ready to strike.

The House of Bilqis: A Novel


Azhar Abidi - 2008
    Though Samad attempts to persuade his mother to join them in Australia, she insists on remaining in Karachi even while Pakistan is facing turmoil. It's 1985. The mullahs and the generals are in control, and an insurgency is beginning in Kashmir. Meanwhile, Bilqis's servant girl, Mumtaz, enters a relationship with Omar, a young man caring for a neighboring house. Omar is an intense man who resents Pakistan's class system, and his frustration leads him to the freedom movement in Kashmir. But Mumtaz is in love and willing to sacrifice her honor to be with him. The intertwining stories of Bilqis, Samad, and Mumtaz offer a powerful and nuanced portrait of Pakistan in the modern era-a place of conflicting loyalties, rich with history and culture, and plagued by violence. Abidi's precise and elegant prose illuminates the struggle between a mother and son to reconcile their love for each other with their love for home.

Being the Other: The Muslim in India


Saeed Naqvi - 2016
    These lines were composed by Mohsin Kakorvi, an Urdu poet, to celebrate not Lord Krishna's birthday but that of the Prophet Muhammad. Awadh, the author's birthplace, was steeped in this exquisite confluence of cultures. Sadly, this glorious tradition has been systematically destroyed over the past century. In many ways, Awadh stood for everything that independent India could have become, a land in which people of different faiths co-existed peacefully and created a culture that drew upon the best that each community had to offer. Instead, what we have today is a pale shadow of the harmony that once existed. Everywhere there are incidents of sectarian murder, communal propaganda and divisive politics. And there seems to be no stopping the forces that are destroying the country. In this remarkable book, which is partly a memoir and partly an exploration of the various deliberate and inadvertent acts that have contributed to the othering of the 180 million Muslims in India, Saeed Naqvi looks at how the divisions between Muslims and Hindus began in the modern era. The British were the first to exploit these divisions between the communities in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the run-up to Independence, and its immediate aftermath, some of India's greatest leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, and others only served to drive the communities further apart. Successive governments, whether formed by the Congress or BJP, compounded the problem by failing to prevent (if not actively supporting) tragic events like communal riots in Gujarat (1969 and 2002), Bombay (1992, 1993), Muzaffarnagar (2013), the breaking of the Babri Masjid (1992) and so on. As a reporter, and editor, Naqvi covered all these events (with the exception of Partition), and in the book he shows us, with acuity and insight, how each of these resulted in the shaping of the discontent of the Muslim in India. Thought-provoking and troubling, Being the Other is essential reading for all those interested in understanding the forces that have shaped contemporary Indian society.

The Line of Control: Travelling with the Indian and Pakistani Armies


Happymon Jacob - 2018
    He travelled with the armies of both countries and could study what is effectively the ground zero—the location where entrenched animosities as well as sudden surges of comradeship are enacted. This is one of the most fortified places on the planet.Jacob writes, "I was keen on getting into their world, the world of men in uniform, fighting each other and yet respecting each other. It was a curious world. It had breath-taking adventure, mind-blowing stories and unforgettable heroism. I loved it, and I was welcome."This vividly told, fast paced narrative brings the border area to life. Jacob was given unprecedented access by the Indian and Pakistani armies and he explores how the border is seen—both in the popular imagination and by those who exist in its shadow. He chronicles the lives of civilians and soldiers, their courage and resilience in the face of constant danger and the extraordinary similarities between the two sides.

Angel City


Patrick D. Smith - 1978
    What they find instead is a nightmare in a migrant labor camp, where they become the indentured servants of a soulless crew chief and his mindless henchmen. Vacillating between hope and despair, Jared must stay alert—and alive—to rescue his own family and the prisoners around him from a life of continued degradation. In the year before he wrote Angel City, Patrick Smith did what he called “physical research,” disguising himself and joining migrant crews as they picked whatever vegetable was in season. He mentally recorded the events he encountered and wrote the novel is just a few weeks. His reason for writing Angel City? “The first step toward eliminating injustice is to expose it,” he said. Angel City was made into a TV movie in 1980.

Governing the Ungovernable: Institutional Reforms for Democratic Governance


Ishrat Husain - 2018
    Despite the many challenges, both internal and external, the country was able to register a 6 per cent average annual growth rate during the first forty years of its existence. The country was ahead of India and Bangladesh in all economic and social indicators. Since 1990, the country has fallen behind its neighbouring countries and has had a decline in the growth rate.This book attempts to examine the reasons behind this slowdown, the volatile and inequitable growth of the last twenty-five years, and through a process of theoretical and empirical evidence argues that the most powerful explanatory hypothesis lies in the decay of institutions of governance. It also suggests a selective and incremental approach of restructuring some key public institutions that pertain to accountability, transparency, security, economic growth, and equity.

The Redemption Series 3-Book Bundle: Isn't She Lovely, Broken, Crushed


Lauren Layne - 2016
    Ethan is desperate to make his snobbish mother forget his ex. While Stephanie’s a stretch as a decoy, what with her piercings and goth wardrobe, the right makeover and a pastel cardigan just might do the trick. But when Stephanie joins the Hamptons crowd, the “acting” begins to feel all too real. And Stephanie faces a question she’s afraid to ask: Is Ethan falling for the real her or for the dolled-up princess he wants to see?BROKEN When Olivia Middleton abandons Park Avenue for a coastal town in Maine to help an injured war veteran reenter society, her client isn’t a grateful elderly man. He’s a brooding twenty-four-year-old who has no intention of being Olivia’s charity project . . . and whose smoldering gaze might be her undoing. A hotshot quarterback before the war, Paul Langdon prefers self-imposed exile, even if he must tolerate the newest caretaker for three months to keep his inheritance. But Olivia makes him long for things he can never have. And the further she slips past his defenses, the harder keeping his distance becomes.CRUSHED A lifelong New Yorker, Michael St. Claire just found out the identity of his real father, a total stranger with a family in Texas. It’s there that Michael meets the exquisitely refined Kristin Bellamy, who’s everything he’s always thought he wants. The only problem is that Kristin’s dating Michael’s new half brother—who just so happens to be the longtime crush of Kristin’s mouthy, curvy, sister, Chloe. When Michael offers to help Chloe break them up, she agrees to a deal that seems too good to be true. But after Chloe finally gets her man, she no longer wants the guy she had to fight for—she wants the one who stood by her side.

Broken Moon


Kim Antieau - 2007
    YOUR BREATH ON MY CHEEK -- ON MY SCAR -- FELT LIKE THE BREATH OF ALLAH. Nadira is spoiled goods. Scars from a beating she received for a crime that her older brother allegedly committed tell the world that she is worth less than nothing -- except to her little brother, Umar, who sees beauty in her scars and value in her. But Umar is gone -- perhaps kidnapped or maybe sold. All Nadira knows is that Umar has been taken into the desert to ride camels for rich sheiks. He could be lost to her forever. For Umar, Nadira will risk everything. So she disguises herself as a boy and searches out the men who took him. They are not hard to find, and soon she, too, is headed to the desert to be a camel jockey. Life in the desert is more brutal than Nadira imagined. All she has to protect her and the boys she meets are a bit of chai tea, some stories, and the hope that she has enough of both to keep going until she finds Umar. BROKEN MOON IS A SPELLBINDING, LYRICAL TALE THAT WILL CAPTURE READERS, HEARTS AND SOULS.

Drop Dead: A Niki Marwah Mystery


Swati Kaushal - 2012
    And, with all due respect, sir, who the hell are you?'When a body mysteriously appears at the bottom of the otherwise serene hills of Sonargam in peak tourist season, Superintendent of Police, Shimla, Niki Marwah, and her crack team of investigators must act quickly to find out how Rak Mehta, the hotshot President & CEO of a super-successful publishing company, landed there.As they scour the grounds of the luxurious Lotus Resort, where Indigo's employees have checked in for their annual conference, the police team uncovers bitter rivalries, secret grudges and vicious lies – not to mention the victim's own sordid past that has made him more enemies than friends.Lipstick stains, condoms, a notebook full of rambling code; bribery, mind games, broken promises - everything points to murder. And, with the list of suspects growing, it will take all of Niki’s ingenuity and skill to catch the killer before Sonargam's idyllic landscape is disrupted once again...

Age of Darkness


Brandon Chen - 2014
    When his village is attacked and his adopted family slaughtered, Keimaro must join with his only friend, Yata, to find vengeance for those he loved most. Hounded by a terrorist organization known as the Bounts, Keimaro travels far from his simple, shielded home into a world filled with espionage, magic, and betrayal. He gains allies along the way—others who have been wronged by the Faar Empire and who possess mystical powers that offer unique possibilities. Along the way, he faces temptation in the form of the enchanting Princess Aika and his own dark desires to overthrow the very gods who condemned his people. Keimaro faces the demon within himself and presses on, learning that vengeance can be found in many forms. Age of Darkness is about one man’s struggle to find the good within himself and to protect those he loves.

When Opposites Meet


Sachin Garg - 2017
    It's the story of love, and the possibility of finding it in the most unlikely of places.

Listen Girl!


कृष्णा सोबती [Krishna Sobti] - 1991
    An absorbing tale of love shadowed by death, the spoken and unspoken distances between a mother and daughter, and the indescribable closeness.