Rahman 1

Insha Rahman

2023-11-0309

Miss Mahrukh Baig

1901 SHSS Writing and Communication

14 November 2019

Critique: The Seer of Pakistan

In his piece “The Seer of Pakistan” published in The New Yorker, Ali Sethi

masterfully analyses Saadat Hasan Manto’s literary works and dives into the details of

Manto’s angle of vision and his power to predict the future happenings and mind sets of the

Pakistani society. The article was published during the time when Manto’s centennial was

being marked. Sethi is a writer and musician and has written extensively on socio-political

topics. He published this article at a time of civil unrest, some of which is mentioned at the

beginning of this piece, which was foreseen in Manto’s works. Ali Sethi’s “The Seer of

Pakistan” wonderfully displays Manto’s dark tales about the future of Pakistan and how

accurately the happenings are confirming his projections. The article presents a very

captivating and elaborate discussion of the predicted socio-political conditions of Pakistan as

Sethi quotes stories covering all the aspects of Manto’s writings, enhancing the credibility of

the text. However, Sethi’s melancholic and condescending tone makes his bias against

Manto’s disparagers quite apparent and this weakens his argument.

Sethi’s article mostly revolves around the explanations of Manto’s short stories. He is

successful at creating a link between the stories and how the current situation of Pakistan is

an evidence of Manto’s prowess as a seer. As it was published in The New Yorker, Sethi

aims to inform the American audience regarding the brilliance which resides in Manto’s
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seemingly promiscuous stories. Sethi explains the underlying socio-political themes in each

of Manto’s supposedly personalized stories to enlighten the readers about the contemporary

situation of the country which he had forewarned us about, more than five decades ago.

Sethi gives his article a very compelling start which engulfs the readers’ minds. He

begins by describing the piteous state of Pakistan where religious minorities were being dealt

with cruelty. After presenting a sorrowful account of such happenings, he shows us the

contrast where the Eid festivities are being celebrated with full fervour. He sarcastically

describes the simultaneous occurrences of joy and distress as a “hysterical synchronicity”,

closely following the “Manto-esque” style. The first short story which Sethi discusses is

“Dekh Kabira Roya” (“Kabir Saw and Wept”) which describes a grief-stricken poet who

finds himself in the middle of the “newly independent state”. The state is working on the

implementation of new absurd laws and the irrationality of it distresses Kabir even more. The

state is shown to be controlled by the religious leaders who are aware of the infeasibility of

their actions, and Sethi then draws the reader’s attention towards how this has become a

reality now. After finally creating the atmosphere and setting his point of view for his

audience, Sethi delves into the life of Manto to take his uninformed audience along with him

and make them witness the circumstances which formed Manto the man into Manto the

writer. This technique also enables the people to grasp a deeper understanding and gives them

a perspective from which they can relate to the stories. In this article, two elements are clearly

recognizable: a timeline and an effective use of pathos. The way Sethi recalls the various

stories creates an impact on the reader’s emotions. In describing “Bu” (“Odor”), which was

written in the nineteen-forties, Sethi focuses on the intimate aspects which captures the

readers’ attention and provokes them to read further. This includes details such as “he tries to

help her undo it, and ends up touching her breasts” and the attraction in the girl’s smell “in

her armpits, her hair, her breasts and navel and every other part of her body….” Later, Sethi
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writes about the negative reactions which “Bu” got for being “obscene” and “a waste of the

writer’s and reader’s time”. Due to the ignorance of the authorities of the time, Manto had to

face trials for this piece, the subtleties of which were only later realized. Sethi now moves

forward to the partition in the timeline. Manto is now shown residing in Bombay, where he

was previously happy, but now the perplexity of his state is described by quoting him “Now

that we were free, had subjection ceased to exist? Who would be our slaves? Thousands of

Hindus and Muslims were dying all around us. Why were they dying?” He raises his

concerns about the future prospects of the two independent states, which were soon

answered. The tensions between the Hindus and Muslims began to grow, the threats of which

convinced Manto to flee to Pakistan. Sethi again describes Manto’s devastated state as he is

unsettled in Lahore. Again, Manto is quoted to have been unable to “dissociate India from

Pakistan and Pakistan from India.” The use of such strong expressions creates a soft corner

for Manto in the reader’s hearts and prepares them to be biased in favour of him.

A collection of sketches called “Siyah Hashiye” (“Black Margins”) is also introduced

in the article. These margins represent the border between India and Pakistan and the

sketches discuss the partition violence. One of the sketches which Sethi elaborated upon was

titled “Modesty”, and it spoke of methodical murders based on religion. Those who remained

were treated with a feast and sycophantic speech was given to apologize for the “modest

hospitality”. This depicts the ruthlessness and the indifference which the people carried in

them for the other religion. Sethi must be applauded for the judicious selection of this sketch.

This is so because religious intolerance and torment was on the rise when this article was

published. By conveying this story to the audience, Sethi has again shown how relevant

Manto’s work is in today’s time and further proves his claim of Manto being the “seer of

Pakistan”. The hardships which were faced by Manto in Pakistan during the remainder of his

life are constructively narrated in order to gain the readers’ sympathies. The way his words in
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“Thanda Gosht” (“Cold Meat”) were twisted by his “tormentors” and how his personal life,

and not only as a writer, seemed to be under severe threat is expressed in the article. Manto is

quoted as explaining the emergence of his stories as the only “pearls of regret” recovered

from the “sea of blood” which was the partition. Sethi now presents Manto’s “Letter to Uncle

Sam”. These letters were addressed to America and Manto acted as a nephew who

represented Pakistan. In these letters, Manto uses a subtly dangerous tone to show the baneful

relationship which he expects Pakistan to have with America. Once again, Sethi has to be

commended on this choice as this further strengthens his claim. The U.S. funding of Pakistani

jihadis and the consequences leading to the destruction of U.S.-Pakistan relationships was

decades away when Manto wrote those letters. His ability to accurately perceive the probable

future of Pakistan makes him rightfully deserving of the title which Sethi has crowned him

with. Sethi, at the end, quotes Manto a little before his death where he considered any honour

and medals by the government as “a great insult to [his] commitment to what [he] believes

in”. Sethi then goes on to display his disappointment as the government, at Manto’s

centennial, does award him the Nishan-e-Imtiaz (“Sign of Distinction”). The melancholic

tone which is expressed as he delivers this news to the reader creates an aura of awe and

amazement and the reader has to sit back and dwell in the glory of this piece.

However, this piece is highly biased, as is evident by the tone employed and the

vocabulary used. Sethi continuously negatively portrays the forces which acted against

Manto. He describes Chaudhary Muhammad Hussain as a “tormentor” as he opposed

Manto’s work. When he was tried for “Thanda Gosht” and later let off, the judge is also

described to have spoken in a way where he considers Manto to be judgmental. The state and

its agents are shown as Manto’s disparagers and a balanced view where Manto’s work is also

appreciated and supported is not presented. This one-sidedness reduces the credibility as

there is nothing to represent the other side of the picture. The article also somewhat carries
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the overly sentimental fallacy. Even though Sethi backs it up with occurrences in Manto’s

life, the choice of words is such which creates a very emotional atmosphere. Furthermore, the

article raises some questions which are not addressed in it. Is it really wrong of the

government to have presented the medal? Should an action be taken to respect Manto’s

commitment to what he believed in? How different would the situation of the “newly

independent states” be if Manto’s ideas were recognized at that time? Did Manto really

expect the people to be ahead of their time like he was? Would he be more widely accepted

had he toned himself down? Should he have toned himself down? Perhaps, there should have

been the discussion of a situation where the authorities were not so ignorant. Sethi could have

improved his argument by demonstrating the possible changes in the current world had

Manto been accepted in his time.

This article develops a deep connection with the Pakistani society and the way it

functions. A look at the society from this newfound perspective shows how Manto and his

thoughts are coming to life with every new dawn. The way the relationship between a rich

man and a working-class girl is described in “Bu” can be seen in prostitution today. The

religious intolerance which is depicted in “Modesty” is on news channels every second day.

The bone-chilling story narrated in “Thanda Gosht” points at the increasing number of rape

cases which are emerging every day. Ali Sethi has done a remarkably well job at raising

awareness to these issues while simultaneously reminding us of the contributions which

Manto made in trying to open our eyes to the realities which were being avoided for a very

long time. Through his article, Ali Sethi intended to influence his audience by the supremacy

of Manto’s work and establish him as the “Seer of Pakistan”. By providing sufficient

evidences and explanations of Manto’s work, Sethi was efficiently able to create an ambience

where the readers were enchanted by Manto’s abilities. His sentimental vocabulary and

negative portrayal of the rival forces helped him strengthen his argument. However, these are
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the same elements which simultaneously weakened his case as they portrayed a biased

approach to the matter. Regardless, Sethi was largely able to make the impact he wanted and

his words carried the power to change minds. Overall, the piece was a success and lures the

audience to sympathise with Manto and appreciate the genius which he was.

Word count: 1765

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Works Cited

Hussain, Sarfaraz. “Saadat Hasan Manto: ‘He Anticipated Where Pakistan Would Go'” The

Guardian. The Guardian. 11 Jun 2016. Web. Accessed 18 Nov 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jun/11/saadat-hasan-manto-short-stories-

partition-pakistan

Sethi, Ali. “The Seer of Pakistan.” The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 30 Aug 2012,

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-seer-of-pakistan.