Manto created a pure universe on the other side of the horizon in his universe ambiguities twinkle as virtuous The moral principles in this given everyday universe of ours hide underneath our prejudices and our ideological agendas. He perceived glimmers of this humanity both in the oppressed and the oppressor, perceiving a distant flame of human frailties flickering both in the pimp who goes out selling in the streets the body of an exploited woman, and in that woman herself. He saw dimly lit humanity even in the characters that appear to us evil. By beginning with a look at Partition's erasure in disciplinary history, the article aims to encourage the readership to consider ways in which the historiographical has informed or shaped Partition literature and the history of its reception.Reclaiming Humanity: Women in Manto’s Short Stories Disciplinary history has only recently acknowledged the need for a social history of Partition and literary criticism has only recently expanded to allow for ways of discussing a traumatic literature other than the limiting one of “literariness.” Thus the article attempts to interweave a discussion of Partition literature with a discussion of shifting critical approaches to it. Partition literature is best contextualized by developments in two academic, disciplinary fields: history and literary criticism.

This article attempts to introduce a literature that self-identifies with this traumatic historical experience. The place where the shock and disbelief first register, as do attempts to negotiate an impossible history of violence, is the literary text. Individuals, families, and communities that found themselves on the “wrong” side of the border were dispossessed of land and home, faced with the threat of bodily harm, spent months on the road and in refugee camps, and began the long process of resettlement.

Apparently the leadership expected what was euphemistically referred to as “an orderly exchange of population” in spite of the fact that the boundaries were officially announced on August 17, 1947, that is, after the actual transfer of power to the two successor states on August 14–15, 1947. After all, mixed populations (Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian, and so on) were more the norm than not in rural and urban India, making the very notion of two homelands, one with a Muslim majority and another with a Hindu majority, somewhat difficult to realize.

Punjab and Bengal, the two provinces that were divided, were the most affected but so were other parts of the country. The division of British India into India and Pakistan in August 1947 was accompanied by the dislocation of between twelve and sixteen million people and the violent deaths of around a million.

Khol do by manto in urdu pdf