Get Alerts Khurshid Hasnain’s Novel Is A Fresh Addition to Urdu Social Realism His work Manzar Aik Bulandi Se is a literary document of city, land, class and human struggles Dr. Intikhab Ulfat Khurshid Hasnain’s recently published novel Manzar Aik Bulandi Se is a significant, refreshing, and thought-provoking addition to contemporary Urdu fiction. It is not merely a story; rather, it presents, through the language of fiction, a complex social landscape where the city, informal settlements, land, class conflict, political violence, the land mafia, religious sentiment, art, nature, local wisdom, and human hope are all interwoven. In this sense, the novel becomes a literary document of an age in which, in the name of development, the land and its inhabitants are under threat; indeed, their connections to their collective memory are often threatened. Khurshid Hasnain’s own intellectual and creative background is important for understanding the novel. He has a history of association with progressive political and literary organisations and activism. As a student leader, he was the General Secretary of the Karachi University Students Union in the mid-1970s. During the same period, he was a founding Secretary of the Young Writers Forum, an organisation under the mentorship of stalwarts like Syed Sibte Hasan, Mirza Zafrul Hasan, Fehmida Riaz, and many other progressive intellectuals of that period. However, he chose a…
Published: June 10, 2026 10:31 pm
Source: The Friday Times — Read original