This June, as the world's focus turns to events in Pakistan, our guest editor, Basharat Peer, restores some nuance to our understanding of the region with a selection of literary work that shines a light on the country's unique historical and cultural heritage. 

The First Morning 
Intizaar Hussain on the moment when two eras met and parted
Translated by Basharat Peer 
I have no definite answer to questions about why I migrated from India to Pakistan after the partition in 1947. I look back and see a crowded train rushing past lively and desolate towns and villages, under a bright sun, and in the dark of night. The train is running through the most frightening night and the passengers are quiet like statues. I strain to hear them breathe. more>>>

His Majesty 
Vali Ashraf Sabuhi evokes the Delhi of his ancestors
Translated by Nauman Naqvi 
When I was a child, until someone told me a story I couldn't sleep. One day I was down with a high fever from morning to night. My mother, Ammajan, sat by the bed massaging my head. Granny Mughlani, whose house was next door, heard the news about me, so she came over and began rubbing the soles of my feet. more>>>

The Monthly Ulloo
Muhammad Khalid Akhtar joins his uncle in the magazine "business" 
Translated by Bilal Tanweer 
If you see a small, rotund man, wearing a check suit, whose watch chain has lost all its luster, whose coat collar has a large rose in its hole, whose two innocent, nervous eyes peep from his square rimless glasses, whose face is guileless and pure like that of a suckling babe, and whose head is adorned with a Turkish cap (redder than the rose on his collar) with swaying tassels-then know immediately that this is my uncle, Abdul Baqi, BA LLB. more>>>

Pink Pigeons–Was it They Who Won? 
Fahmida Riaz remembers the dream of communism 
Translated by Muhammad Umar Memon 
An early August wind whispers through the lush green trees of Alma Ata. The tiny leaves break into applause. "What are these trees called?" I ask the interpreter. "Tuzhi," the ravishing, delicate Tatar beauty responds gently, in a distinctly American accent. Her name is Gulnaz. So beautiful, fragile-looking, adorable! more>>>

Do You Suppose it's the East Wind
Altaf Fatima returns to the landscapes of memory
Translated by Muhammad Umar Memon
The enormous weight of three hundred and sixty-five days once again slips from my hand and falls down into the dark cavern of the past. The windows in this desolate room are wide open. How improbably strange the sky looks, draped in a sheet of dense gray clouds, behind the luxuriant green trees.
more>>>

The Man with Three Names 
Muhammad Asad Khan's whirlwind Pathan epic
Translated by Muhammad Umar Memon
He had three names: Majeeta, Majeed and Ma'i Dada. Those who called him Majeeta had given up the ghost during his lifetime. The few hoary old men who called him Majeed, or "Arey Maan Majeed," lingered on for a while longer. To the rest–and this included the whole town–he was at all times Ma'i Dada. His real name though, as he himself stated, was Abdul Mazid Khan Esoop Ja'i.
more>>>


Elsewhere on the site, we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre this June 4 with two powerful testaments: dissident leader Wang Dan, published here for the first time in English, recalls his prison days, and Liao Yiwu interviews Wu Wenjian, an artist who speaks about the fate of the June 4 "Thugs" in the wake of the massacre. 

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