Minto’s literary labyrinth

Whenever a comprehensive people’s history of Pakistan becomes available to our students, the name of Abid Hassan Minto will appear in bold letters. An indomitable fighter for democracy and human rights in the country and a proponent of progressive ideas, he is now 92 years old -- and may he manage to hit a century.

Recently his autobiography "Qissa paun sadi ka" (A tale of 75 years) has appeared on bookshelves. Book Corner Jhelum has maintained its high quality of production with a pleasant title. Before discussing the book, perhaps it is better to introduce Abid Minto's two earlier books: "Nuqtae Nazar" (Viewpoint) that Multimedia Affairs published in 2003, and "Apni Jang Rahe Gi" (Our struggle will continue) by Saanjh Publications in 2018. I will discuss the three books in my columns chronologically.

The first book, "Nuqtae Nazar", deals exclusively with literature so let's begin with that. Abid Hassan Minto opened his eyes in 1932 in Rawalpindi in a well-to-do family of lawyers. Renowned freedom fighter and Congress leader Barrister Saifuddin Kitchlew was his maternal grandfather so law and politics seamlessly came to Abid Hassan. He was still a teenager when the partition of India took place and the horrors of forced migrations unfolded that many progressive writers of that era were documenting with utmost responsibility. That was the time when Abid Minto had his first introduction with the PWA (Progressive Writers Association) which was already 15 years old.

Minto was not only an active reader of progressive literature but also a keen observer of the internal disagreements and conflicts of opinion within the left-wing politics that was affecting the PWA. He started writing pretty early and his articles and essays found ample space in literary journals when he was not even 20 years old. "Nuqtae Nazar" is a collection of his writings that he penned about the progressive movement in literature and the challenges it faced at the hands of the new state of Pakistan.

The book contains 24 articles and essays with an introduction by Syed Sibte Hasan. Nearly all pieces in the book deserve a careful reading as they give us an insight to the trends and tendencies of progressive writers and how they reacted to the challenges they faced. In October 1951, the literary journal "Adab-e-Lateef" carried one of the first articles on the issue of languages: "The language problem in Pakistan". It is surprising that at the age of just 19, Minto could analyze and write about something the state of Pakistan was trying to downplay and ignore as an insignificant matter.

Minto begins by discussing the basic ingredients of languages and how one language differs from another. He maintains that a language develops over centuries and becomes closer to people’s hearts more than any other feature or characteristic of a nation. It brings people together and as a means of immediate communication, people cherish and nourish their own tongue. Right after the inception of Pakistan, nearly all nationalities living in the new country expected a dignified and respectful treatment of their languages but to their dismay, the rulers had different ideas.

Minto emerges as a strong proponent of all languages and opposes any attempts by the ruling elite to diminish or downgrade any language in the name of "national unity". He gives examples from several countries that managed to promote multiple languages and did not impose any one language at the cost of others. He relates the use of a language to the right of self-determination of all nationalities. When a people feel deprived of the use of their language, they rightly demand equal treatment of all languages and refuse to give up their right to the language of their choice.

“Destruction of a language is tantamount to subjugating a nation, as languages keep people’s national aspirations alive.” (Page 260). Minto rightly points out that the ruling elite deliberately keeps their subjects illiterate or barely literate so that a majority of common people lack in abilities and skills, doing clerical and labour work without challenging the authorities. Bengal was a more active province and Bangla was a more developed language so naturally Bengalis demanded for their language a constitutional and institutional role in Pakistan. Minto in 1951 supported this demand and wrote about it. This article is just 13 pages and still worth reading as a still relevant document.

In the "Adab-e-Lateef" of December 1951, Minto – still at the age of 19 – penned yet another marvellous article: "Maujooda adabi taattul ki bunyadi wujuh" (Root causes of the current literary abeyance or deadlock). He begins by explaining that when good literature is in short supply or when the minds of writers are too scattered to work properly, we may call it abeyance or deadlock in literature. He felt that deadlock in the early 1950s in Pakistan and discussed it through his writings. He thought that during the pre-partition days, there was a flurry of literary activities but after Independence such activities came to a near halt in Pakistan.

In the new country, most writers found themselves at the mercy of economic hardships; the same writers who could earn a decent living were now destitute. He quotes Saadat Hasan Manto who wrote in 1951: “My current life is full of miseries. After toiling day and night I can barely eke out a living for my basic needs. I am constantly under stress for my wife and children who will suffer extremely in case of my death; who will take care of them? I may be a writer of obscene fiction; a terrorist, a cynic, a joker, and a reactionary; but I am also a father of three daughters. If any of them is ill, and I have to beg for their treatment, I feel distressed.”

Unfortunately, what Manto wrote and Minto discussed is still the case for most full-time writers in Pakistan who cannot earn a living just by writing. Newspaper columnists are no different if they do not have another job. Minto was concerned that economic hardships would result in a prolonged drought of good literature as most writers would end up compromising their integrity, and that is exactly what happened in the ensuing decades as military dictators from Generals Ayub and Yahya to Zia and Musharraf all wanted to have an officially approved line up of writers, and there were plenty of them.

In June 1952, Minto wrote about a "United movement of literature". In this article, he proposed that good literature should rise above the level of propaganda but remain concerned with human and social development as a worthy cause. He opposed the trends in literature in the new state of Pakistan which promoted "fate" and "determinism" rather than human action and agency. He pointed out that the ruling elite in Pakistan had started opposing – rather suppressing – progressive thought while promoting and patronizing reactionary and regressive literature. How true this has been over the past seven decades now.

Minto suggested that a basic principle of a united movement of literature should be to bring all those writers together who believe that the prevailing state of affairs impedes human development in the country. Those who consciously want positive change and do not believe in predestined miseries for the people must come together.

Minto suggests three fundamental points for writers that they must not sacrifice or overlook in the name of "literature for its own sake": democracy, equality before law, and peace for everyone.

"Nuqtae Nazar" is a book that must be available in all school and college libraries. It is amazing how Abid Hassan Minto was able to accumulate that much knowledge and insight at such a tender age, and was also able and willing to share his ideas in writing with his readers.

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK. He tweets/posts @NaazirMahmood and can be reached at:

mnazir1964@yahoo.co.uk