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The Documentary: Manto: Uncovering Pakistan

Faisal Mosque Islamabad

22/06/2016 GMT

Manto: Uncovering Pakistan

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Manto: Uncovering Pakistan

The legacy of Sa'adat Manto, who confronted social taboos in Indio-Pakistani society

The legacy of Pakistani writer Sa'adat Manto, who confronted social taboos in Indio-Pakistani society.

Sa’adat Hassan Manto was a writer who confronted social taboos in Indio-Pakistani society. Even though he died only aged 42 in 1955, an alcoholic and penniless, his work still speaks to 21st Century Pakistan.

As a film and radio script writer, a journalist and most significantly as short story writer in Urdu, Manto chronicled the chaos that prevailed in the run up to, during and after the Partition of India in 1947. Manto was tried for obscenity six times - three times in British India and three times in Pakistan, but he was never convicted.

Often compared with DH Lawrence, Manto (much like Lawrence) wrote about topics considered to be social taboos in Indio-Pakistani society. With stories such as Atishparay (Nuggets of Fire), Bu (Odour), Thanda Gosht (Cold Meat) and Shikari Auratein (Women of Prey), he portrayed the darkness of the human psyche and the collective madness of the social and political changes around him.

With the help of Manto's three daughters, Nusrat, Nighat and Nuzhat, as well as writers and scholars like Ayesha Jalal, Suniya Qureshi, Preti Taneja and Mohammed Hanif, presenter Sarfraz Mansoor tells Manto’s story and assesses his legacy.

(Photo: Pakistani Muslims break their fast at Faisal Mosque in Islamabad on June 2016. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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