Nadeem Aslam’s * † , Aslam’s focus on the political and . The novel debuts Aslam’s depiction of the thematic Pakistan’s . , Keywords Nadeem Aslam’s debut novel the Cold War, during Zia’s military regime. The story is wrapped around . slam’s ultimately forced into exile by Zia’s military regime. uch a writer depends “on the degree of unconscious assimilation” of a particular philosophy depicted “in a mythology: * † , images, symbols, narrative” of a society . us of the role of fiction drawing our attention to the “events that occur right before our eyes” p. . Aslam’s fictional response to the Cold “an embattled world” p. 360 . players and the nationalist telos of the state narrative, Aslam’s fiction numerous implications in Aslam’s latter fiction. against Pakistan’s established narrative of the Cold War. H Cold War politics during the 1980’s and 1990’s, especially against the 63 , the title of the novel ‘ ,’ both the words ‘season’ and ‘ ’ mergencies, Aslam writes that “Seasons and governments are at their most dangerous whilst changing” , 2013, p. 117 turmoil’s the word ‘season’ can further be extended to the ‘monsoon,’ a typical sub Aslam’s fiction implies cultural and geographical bonds often disregarded in Pakistan’s state narrative. Similarly, the word ‘ ’ rain bird’s to the novel’s attempt at disclosing the country’s cultural, historical and ghout Aslam’s 64 , Aslam’s on unities commingling and integrating in the “melting pot” t’s broad secular animosity and conflict, he calls the former as the “other times” 2013 Contrary to Aslam’s notion of diversity, the country’s national as an ‘encounter’ and communities disagree to the minute extents of “the clothes, the foods, the of salutation, the postures, the gestures” p. 1 . Aslam’s other times are “bitter times” for Ali ’s narrator reports a somewhat different situation even in a place, had “a Hindu ,” occupying houses with their doors open, temple behind “the mosque” 2013, p. p Whereas Pakistan’s state narrative purposely overlooks the tolerant s in India before the Partition and magnifies ‘Hindu differences,’ Aslam’s fiction underlines harmonious chords of communal 65 , subcontinent. This communal antagonism, as viewed in Aslam’s fiction, 2013, p. than solution for the country’s fr with Abul Kalam Azad’s famous argument on the Partition that the result of the 1947 Partition “was to weaken the position of the d in India have been weakened” (2011, p. marred by Pakistan’s nationalist narrative which portrays them as across the borders to their respective new abodes, “had of the sacred places of their predecessors” 201 to the monolithic perspective of Pakistan’s state narrative on the first ’s narrator accounts a place where the “conical tower” of a temple is dynamited and reduced into “rubble” 201 “ ” 201 . “the pilgrimage” to their new homeland “across the bloody August of 1947” ( 201 . “followed by Sikhs who held in their hands moons dripping with blood”, her whole features “contract in pain” and “her eyebrows are tense as bows” as if in a nightmare she has seen the images of “Savages!” 2013, p. 66 , instance, Aunt Khursheed’s eldest son “born on a pile of corpses as his 201 parents were fleeing the massacre” different narrative: “That is not true. Hindus and Sikhs did not harm any opposite direction, from Rawalpindi to Amritsar” 2013, p. 58 . “Pakistan as a historian sees her,” s “the child of encounter and strife” Discussing her as “a going concern” Toynbee agrees that she does stand as a nation “transcending” the “physical and linguistic differences by a common religion” . cipates the repercussions of Pakistan’s strong religious “ ” . Toynbee warns Pakistan’s political pundits on the misadventure , 67 , diversity after the loss of East Pakistan, Pakistan’s emphasis upon her . Constitution in Z. A. Bhutto’s tenure motives of the players of the Cold War. Similarly, Zia’s martial law was Pakistan into a state that suited the West’s interests against the Soviets in Political scientists and scholars regard Zia’s regime notoriously responsible for the country’s insurmountable socio unfold Pakistan’s socio . Overwhelmed with a compelling portrayal of Zia’s repressive the state’s maneuvering of the country’s Hardly ever, the class struggle is voiced in Pakistan’s state pathology of Pakistan’s national predicaments affecting people and v 68 , illustrated in Aslam’s latter novels. Observing the imp v 201 . bitterly lampooning the commoners “on having TV set at their home,” 201 2013, p. “What annoys me is the way these maulanas never preach to the rich They’re always asking us to come to the mosques” 2013, . While Pakistan’s national narrative is silent about the oppressive “[f]ar worse things go on behind the walls of the bigger houses” of these exploiters 201 . Judge “corrupt to the core” and “involved in politics” puts many “obstacles in the way of justice,” “to intimidate witness,” “court credentials to some of the killers on the Special Commission's list” 2013, p. 40 debauchery despite the fact that the whole town frequently “finds a woman” in his house, and one day a mob instigated by the clergy drag 69 , 2013, rd who considers the “Martial Law” as an answer to his “prayers” because his “expropriated lands” and “mills” are returned and his brother becomes a minister 2013, p. Within Aslam’s fictional schema, the clergy is generally nd further “ superiority of human body” 201 . All are “misguided mortals” who attempt to mimic “the Almighty’s adroitness” 201 . He invokes “Allah’s curse on science and the scientists” 201 . empowerment of Pakistan’s retrogressive clergy imposing its influence under Zia’s Isl ’s orthodox cleric Maulana Hafeez Zia’s dictatorship: “It will be nothing like those months. fearing man” 2013, p. to Ayub Khan’s martial law in the 1960s which was by of the state when scores of copies of Ayub’s “The Little Green Book” containing “the President’s thoughts” were sent to “schools, mosques, stalls” to prepare the whole nation 201 “ 70 , ” “ ” non grave impacts on the country’s subsequent moves and stances in the and minorities in Pakistan, Aslam’s fiction provides provocative when the landlord Mujeeb Ali visits the deputy commissioner’s house, he declines. She then smiles satirically and says; “[d]on’t worry,” “you’ll drink” 201 “from one of the villages that were burnt down” in the sectarian riots against this community because they were “outlawed by the previous prime minister in an effort to placate the maulanas and to win over the religious vote” 201 . n a motif in all of Aslam’s novels. depiction of Aslam’s father Wamiq’s inclusion two major aspects of the Progressive Writers’ Movement in the Zia’s has tattooed Wamiq’s name on his chest often in Zia’s regime 201 . 71 , Wamiq’s internment at these be among the most essential fictional imperatives in Aslam’s works. His on negotiates with Aslam’s second Ali, C. M. (2009). 18 Contemporary Writers , Oxon: 8 Anthem Press, 245 72 , 73