Today in Pakistani Literature — Agency Rules
A Marxist Look at the Ideologies Presented by Khalid Muhammad in his Debut Novel
With rapid development in various sectors, Pakistan has made remarkable progress when it comes to literature as well. Pakistani literature, today, is not only confined to the mother tongue, Urdu but is being widely written and read in English too.
Many writers across the country have made an international name for themselves by bringing in light issues that may not have been addressed otherwise. Reading and writing are great tools for distraction, but with a little touch of reality, both the reader and the writer can make a great difference by educating not only themselves but the world.
Today in Pakistani Literature, we discuss a masterpiece written by Khalid Muhammad, a businessman at day and a writer at night, sounds super cool, right? When I first picked this book for research purposes, I had little to no expectations but the book kept me hooked to the point I stayed up all night to find out what happened next. And if this isn’t a trait of a good writer then I don’t know what is. Muhammad’s interests vary from social to political issues and that is exactly what his debut novel tackles.
The writer in his novel sheds light on how social and cultural conditioning has been crushing poor people through factors such as politics, power, religion, and culture. Muhammad captivates the readers’ interest by keeping them at the edge of their seats throughout his spy thriller about secret agency, underlying working of the government, religious organizations, and different nationalists.
Without spoiling the story, I will highlight some of the major problems dealt with by Muhammad in his novel.
Power
When we hear people say, ‘power can make you blind’, they are not lying. To get hold of more power, individuals tend to go to an extent where there’s no coming back from. They can crush whoever comes in their way just to stay more influential. Muhammad discusses the power Army holds in his novel by stating how an army general has more authority than the prime minister of the country himself. Through the novel, we see how Army has the first say in all the matters not only concerning the security of the country but political, economic, and social affairs as well. The control of powerful people does not stop with the involvement of the army, individuals sitting in the higher position of the government are proven to be incompetent but because of their higher up connections, no one questions their credibility. Thus, people who deserve these positions are pushed back due to a lack of references. Another remarkable mention of how cruel the people holding power can be is a character from the novel, also known as the Don of the city, who kills every single person coming in his way. He also has a wall dedicated to the victims of his brutality, which shows people with power have no fear.
Politics
The sole purpose of political leaders and politics itself is to look out for people who elect them and make decisions that are in THEIR favor, but politicians today come in power to fill their pockets and use their influence for nothing but their own good. The novel stresses the political instability and how it’s poor and weak who have to suffer because of these power-hungry people governing them. Through the novel, we find how the prime minister of the state who comes in power after making numerous promises of bringing change is unable to answer simple questions when it’s his time to take action against injustice and other difficulties faced by the nation. The writer highlights the problem with nepotism in politics, through which people from influential families who lack experience get to the top political positions solely based on references and connections. When such people take the throne, they lack emotional connectivity with the public leading them to take decisions which their people can never benefit from but will only create more hurdles for them in the future. Muhammad shows the adverse reaction these political leaders cause on the poor public who vote for them in hopes of better treatment but get discriminated against based on their social and religious status in return.
Culture
Additional to social conditioning, another thing brought to light by the writer is the cultural conditioning where people from very young ages are made to believe that they will always be discriminated against because of their different cultural roots. The novel perfectly depicts this scenario, when a person belonging to the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faces discrimination solely based on being a Pashtun in the province of Punjab. He is made to stand out in the crowd and is looked at as a terrorist because of the prejudice Punjabis holds against Pashtuns. He is looked down on and is treated as an alien in his very own country by his very own people only because these people have been falsely conditioned to believe that Pashtuns are highly uneducated who also repress their daughters. The problem with culture does not only lie from one province to another, but the intermingling of Indian and western culture which is shown highly through television channels also becomes a topic of debate in the novel. Media plays a huge part in making or breaking a state in today’s century. When people start following other cultures, they start discriminating against their own people, heritage, and traditions because of a lack of awareness and false depiction of their own belief system. The writer shows how this interference of other cultures has been diverting people from their origins and making them ignore their own beliefs.
Religion
Muhammad shows the command religion has on its followers. Through the novel, we find how the war of ‘faithful’ vs. the ‘unfaithful’ has more to do with acquiring power than the religion itself. Many fake religious scholars are seen to be projecting hate in their innocent follower’s minds to spread fear and uneasiness. They make poor fight war which is never meant for them because of their lack of education regarding their faith. Islam preaches love, harmony, and peace while some of the scholars we come across through Muhammad’s novel infuse violence and hatred only. The novel shows the involvement of different organizations who train young people to carry out terrorist activities conditioning them into believing they are fighting the ‘unfaithful’ when in reality, they are only fighting their people who are being labeled wrongly.
These are just a few of the many problems highlighted by Muhammad in his novel. Through his fictional writing with a realistic touch, Muhammad shows how people are being exploited in the name of politics, power, culture, and religion. Due to a lack of proper knowledge and awareness, the poor take whatever road they are shown to lead a life full of prosperity and peace but they always end up in a ditch after being used by people who have the control. The poor are shown to be sacrificing their lives, freedom, and happiness while the rich sit on the top and enjoy the show. Muhammad shows the rotten system in which we breathe every day but no one stands up against what is wrong in the fear of losing the minimal good they have left on their plate. With the help of satire, irony, and powerful writing techniques, Muhammad succeeds in spreading an underlying message of what is wrong with the country today and how addressing these issues can make a huge difference in, if not all then, in at least some people’s lives.
