Adil Najam
We at ATP like books. Over the last many months we have featured and discussed a number of books that relate to Pakistan in various ways.
I must confess that I had always hoped that we would talk more about books than we have. I hope we will be able to do so in the future. As a step towards that goal, we would like to invite our readers to share with us your suggestions of books on Pakistan that are worth reading.
This is not a popularity contest. We have no awards to give. We merely want to collate a list of books on Pakistan that people consider to be interesting reads. Specially those that you would consider recommending to others for whatever reason.
We have only two criteria:
- First, that the books you suggest must be about Pakistan, and significantly so. We, of course, realize that many Pakistanis read many books that are not about Pakistan, but the focus of this blog is not only on ‘All’ Things Pakistan, but also ‘Only’ things about Pakistan.
- Second, for the purpose of this first exercise please restrict your suggestions to books in the English language. This is a pragmatic, and not an ideological, criteria. The universe of books in Urdu is much larger - especially when one includes works of fiction and poetry - and hopefully we will have a separate exercise on those. For now, we wish to start small by focusing only on English language books.
The plan right now is to make this post and list a standing feature and to keep adding to it as readers share their suggestions and ideas. Hopefully this will be a useful service to those interested in Pakistan and Pakistaniat.
Daughter of the East/Dokhtare Mashriq by Benazir Bhutto
In the line of fire - as mentioned elsewhere.
I believe various fiction works deal with “Pakistan” and the life therein very well. To understand a lot about Pakistan, they are quite valuable.
The Pakistani Bride and Ice candy man - Bapsi Sidhwa. Although both are set in a time frame of partition, not much has changed since in various attitudes.
Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography
And The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.
Zamir saheb. my mistake :)
I thought we were not supposed to mention Urdu books on this blog.
Naseem Hajazi’s “100 Saal baad”. The best humor about India’s plan to attack Pakistan which goes wrong.
‘Shahabnaama’ and ‘mein ne Dhaka doobte dekha’ are two very captivating Urdu books on Pak history but it is very difficult for me to separate facts from fiction in them. Perhaps they both have some truth and some stretch of truth.
Some other recommendations
1: Distinct neighbors by Kuldip Nayyar, about Indo-Pakistan relations.
2: The myth of independence by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s international relations. This book was written in 1960 when he was out of favor with Ayub Khan. One of the most fascinating and memorable line from the book is “I dare to predict that in 1970s US and China will become friends.” This book is completely about Pakistan and international relations, not much about Pakistan’s internal politics.
(Available in PDF at http://www.Bhutto.org)
3: If I am assassinated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
(Available in PDF at http://www.Bhutto.org)
4: Can Pakistan survive? By Tariq Ali, not my favorite but an interesting look on Pakistan’s history from a leftist’s point of view.
5: Danger in Kashmir by Joseph Korbel. He was a member of UN commission on Kashmir, Madeline Albright’s father and Condoleezza Rice’s mentor.
6: Leopard and Fox by Tariq Ali. Haven’t read it yet, so can’t comment, but it was written for a BBC teleplay.
7: Taliban by Ahmed Rashid. Read it to get an idea about geopolitical and economic reasons for supporting Taliban.
8: Jinnah by Jawant Singh.
9: Conflicts, crises and war in Pakistan – by Dr. Kalim Siddqui.
10: Pakistan: The Economy of an Elitist State Dr. Ishrat Hussain former governor of State Bank.
I have some recommendations in Urdu books also. Many books by Bhuttos and about Bhuttos are available in pdf format at http://www.bhutto.org.
@Khurram Farooqui. Manto is not a required study in schools yet. Atleast not in Sindh and atleast not upto and including Grade XII. May be if someone goes for advanced degree in Urdu at University level then Manto may be required study. Am not sure about that.
“In Other Rooms, Other Wonders” by Daniyal Mueenuddin
- A relatively recent collection of short stories.
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid
- same guy who wrote “Moth Smoke”
“Freedom at Midnight” by Lapierre and Collins
- This was mentioned in an earlier post but it holds special meaning for me because this was the first book I read, back when I was in school, which made me realize that there is another side to the story besides what we learned in school. A bit biased against Jinnah, but still an important read.
“Selected Stories” by Saadat Hasan Manto.
- Can be found in English, although better to read in Urdu. This should really be required reading in school. Maybe it is?