Basti

"In Intizar's fiction 'people mourn for lost genealogies, ancestral graveyards, crumbling homes' (Bhalla). We get illuminating passages on Pakistani and Muhajir identity. He talks of the Muslim migrant's experience as hijrat (Prophet Muhammad's exile to Medina). How can such a brutal political event be transformed into a religious experience, asks Bhalla." - Keki Daruwalla, The Hindu (2006)

"Intizar Husain's novel Basti, considered one of the finest works written on the theme of partition, recalls and re-evokes the story of Pakistan, from Partition until the loss of Bangladesh. Originally written in Urdu and first published in 1979, Basti poignantly captures the tragic succumbing of paradise to the corrosive powers of time through the emotional journey of its main protagonist, Zakir. The novel looks beyond the interpretation of Partition as just a political decision, and succeeds in capturing the human side of the historic event." - Frances Prichett, Professor of Modern Indic Languages, Columbia University, and translator of Basti

"In Intizar's fiction 'people mourn for lost genealogies, ancestral graveyards, crumbling homes' (Bhalla). We get illuminating passages on Pakistani and Muhajir identity. He talks of the Muslim migrant's experience as hijrat (Prophet Muhammad's exile to Medina). How can such a brutal political event be transformed into a religious experience, asks Bhalla." - Keki Daruwalla, The Hindu (2006)

"Intizar Husain's novel Basti, considered one of the finest works written on the theme of partition, recalls and re-evokes the story of Pakistan, from Partition until the loss of Bangladesh. Originally written in Urdu and first published in 1979, Basti poignantly captures the tragic succumbing of paradise to the corrosive powers of time through the emotional journey of its main protagonist, Zakir. The novel looks beyond the interpretation of Partition as just a political decision, and succeeds in capturing the human side of the historic event." - Frances Prichett, Professor of Modern Indic Languages, Columbia University, and translator of Basti