Short Takes
Karachi as the nerve centre of terror
Jaswant Singh

Karachi: A Terror Capital in the Making
by Wilson John. Rupa. Pages 114. Rs 195.

KARACHI is known as an important business centre of the subcontinent. In fact, it is aptly called the commercial capital of Pakistan. The British made it the seat of the Pakistan Government but the capital was later shifted to Rawalpindi and then to its present location in Islamabad. Commercial activity of Pakistan, however, remained centred in Karachi.

The author has taken pains to reveal the other face of Karachi which makes it a haven for criminals, smugglers, traffickers, sectarian gangsters, indoctrinated killers, religious fanatics and terror organisations. Sectarian strife between Shias and Sunnis, and between Urdu-speaking Mohajirs and the Sindhis created an atmosphere of unrest and violence in which flourished extortion rackets, contract killings and drug trafficking. Soviet presence in Afghanistan and US help to the Mujahideen turned Karachi into a conduit for military supplies and recruits for Afghan fighters. This brought the ISI and the Al-Qaida into the picture. After the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Al-Qaida found Karachi a convenient place to regroup. Criminal syndicates which functioned in collusion with the administration formed an ideal infrastructure for the movement of men and material for jehadi groups which had by now turned their attention to Kashmir. American manhunt for Al-Qaida leaders had alerted airports all over the world and the sea routes became the alternative channel for the movement of men and material for fresh attacks. Here again, Karachi, with its port and vast stretches of coastline and the infrastructure of smuggling syndicates, became an ideal place for organising future operations. The result, the author points out, is that hundreds of Al-Qaida terrorists are hiding in Karachi, poised to strike wherever and in whatever manner the leaders decide.

The book reveals this other side of Karachi in shocking detail. One is left with the impression that this metropolis of Pakistan is fast on its way to becoming the nerve centre of terror.

Black Borders
by Saadat Hasan Manto, translated from the Urdu by Rakhshanda Jalil. Rupa. Pages 50. Rs 95.

MANTO is among the Urdu writers who have portrayed the horrors of Partition in a stark manner. His first story, Tamasha was, however, inspired by the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh. After that he wrote plays, radio talks and essays besides short stories. His portrayal of human failings touches the reader for its honesty and truthfulness.

His writings presenting the horrors of Partition are a down-to-earth presentation of the collective insanity that had gripped the sub-continent during that period. This small volume which first appeared in Urdu in 1947 as Siah Hashiye contains small vignettes that describe that terrible phase of murder, rape, greed and wanton destruction. Rakhshanda Jalil has rendered the vignettes into English, retaining the matter-of-fact character of Manto’s writing.

V. Shantaram
by Kiran Shantaram with Sanjit Narwekar. Pages 128. Rs 295.

TOWARDS the close of 1946, a cinema house in Lahore was drawing unusual crowds. It was showing V. Shantaram’s Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani. Not that Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis and his mercy mission to China had fired the imagination of the Lahorians. In fact, most of them were not even aware of who Dr Kotnis was. The fervour stemmed from their keenness to see Shantaram who himself was playing the lead role. The spontaneous applause that rose in the hall when his face first came on the screen signified how Shantaram had identified himself with his audiences. That he was able to strike a chord with the people even in the politically surcharged atmosphere of the 1940s, shows that filmmakers like Shantaram were as much the idols of the millions as the leaders of the freedom movement.

Born on November 18, 1901, Shantaram Rajaram Vankudre began as a film director in 1920 when the silent era was coming to a close. He moved from the silent era upto the age of modern technology and in the process he produced a large number of films some of which became hits, some failed, but each carried the unmistakable stamp of his commitment to human values.

Son Kiran Shantaram who has recorded the events of his father’s life in collaboration with writer and filmmaker Sanjit Narwekar, was born on July 26, 1943, when Shantaram’s memorable creation Shakuntla was ready for release. He joined his father in film-making when Navrang was on the sets and has since been constantly associated with Rajkamal Kalamandir which he has inherited. The narration of the two authors makes the book immensely readable and gives an insight into the life and works of a man for whom film making was not only a passion but also a matter of faith.

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