Talk:Saadat Hasan Manto

PD-Pakistan Image

As Manto died in 1955 (i.e. more than 55 years ago), all of his photographs must be in public domain in Pakistan. Then why this article is without a photo for such a long period. Photoreq is pending from 2007. If there is any photograph available, please upload it using tag Template:PD-Pakistan as appropriate. Shivashree (talk) 09:31, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

The confusion regarding Manto's nationality

One of the most iconic writers of Urdu literature Manto was born in British India but opted for Pakistan during Partition. Though he was a secular and a humanist he still chose Pakistan because of his own Muslim roots and to avoid Hindu-Muslim conflict and violence prevalent in India. He had envisioned a secular Pakistan but became highly frustrated after it was declared an Islamic state during the 1949 objective resolution. It is worth noting that Pakistan's Founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah died shortly after partition under mysterious circumstances and many speculate that he had a secular vision for Pakistan as indicated in his speech to the constituent assembly on august 11 1947. The following Pakistani history shows a nation ruled by religious clergy and authoritative military regimes. Freedom of speech was stifled, art suppressed and history distorted. During this time(and even in present) Manto served as a much needed counter culture figure when all of urdu literature was marred with conformist writings. His most famous work was written after migration to Pakistan (Khol do, thanda gosht, Toba tek singh) and much of his work explored religion, suppressed sexuality and conservatism etc. Much of his writings deal with the problems most prevalent in Pakistan e.g religious extremism and it would not be wrong to say that he wrote much in the context of Pakistan after migration. He played an important role in re constructing the Pakistani identity of the alienated youth and intelligentsia. So considering his struggle for a more tolerant Pakistan it would be fair to mention the writer's nationality in the main intro as an Indian born Pakistani rather than just being 'born in British India' especially when in much of his work and political essays he speaks in the Pakistani context. The intro is much confusing with regards to his nationality and it is easy to confuse him as an Indian (post partition) which is untrue. P.s: Manto and all the other legendary writers and poets of the subcontinent are not strictly Pakistani or Indian or Bengali, they are universal secular voices, but a distinction has to be made only to better understand their context of writing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.179.183.162 (talk) 12:40, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

No, that would be entirely anachronistic. George Custer's Sabre 13:07, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

He was born in British India, that is a fact, which can not be changed. He moved to Pakistan, for whatever reason, that is also a fact.--Spasage (talk) 15:25, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Urdu language writer

@GorgeCustersSabre:, Manto wrote in Urdu language (correct me if this is wrong) . If you read this article, Urdu is not mentioned. So, how will reader know in which language Monto wrote. What are you thoughts. --Spasage (talk) 15:38, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

@Spasage: Yes, you are right. We should mention 'Urdu' in the lead of article. You can do it right now. Cheers. Gazal world (talk) 16:07, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

What’s the evidence? It’s my language and I know Manto’s bio very well. But we need evidence given that he could have written in several. Let’s get other opinions and ideally a source. George Custer's Sabre (talk) 16:20, 3 May 2018 (UTC)

@GorgeCustersSabre:, lets start from the fact that he wrote in Urdu. His major work was in Urdu language. His worked listed here Saadat_Hasan_Manto#Bibliography is all in Urdu language, if this is the case this should be mentioned in the article. Writing that he wrote in Urdu, does not make him less of a writer. If your concern his that he wrote in other languages as well, we can say something like ".. most of his work was in Urdu language...

and he also wrote in ... language ", but not writing language of his work is a mistake. --Spasage (talk) 20:05, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Agreed. George Custer's Sabre (talk) 04:35, 5 May 2018 (UTC)

Manto's nationality

Manto was born and spent all his life in the undivided India except the last 7 years of his life which he spent in Pakistan after migrating there post-partition. So instead of calling him a "Pakistani" outright, I believe it's better to have a more specific info about his nationality, that is, "Indian (pre-partition); Pakistani (post-partition)." One can't ignore the fact where he spent the larger part of his life. Sumnas (talk) 18:30, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

The normal thing to do when a person changes nationality is to write "x-born Y-national", (which would be "Indian-born Pakistani author") but here since he was not born in India, but in British India I think the current solution is better. ·maunus · snunɐɯ· 09:09, 27 September 2018 (UTC)

I agree with Sumnas. Manto actually chose to stay in India and did so even after the partition of India. He only moved to Pakistan in 1948 after some of his family did. He wrote while he was a citizen of British India, the Dominion of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan. Both "Indian" and "Pakistani" should therefore be mentioned. Harmanprtjhj (talk) 02:11, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

It doesn't matter, when he died he only had one citizenship, you can't even be "Indian and Pakistan", that's mathematically impossible, and before 47' it wasn't "India" anyway but "British India", and one can argue if the modern notion of national citizenship even applied there. That would be like saying that actor Raj Kapoor and dozens of other Bollywood stars were "Pakistan-born Indians". To term Manto as "Indian" by Indians is just a simple manifestation of basic jingoism, if he wasn't the best Urdu short-story writer there wouldn't even be that "debate". Arslan-San 08:36, 12 April 2019 (UTC)

Manto

Talk 59.103.244.50 (talk) 05:08, 25 January 2023 (UTC)