Translation of Pakistani satire hits bookstores
Featuring bumbling generals, assassination plots, and homosexual romance, Pakistani military satire “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hanif has finally been released in the country’s official language Urdu -- even as the army tightens its grip on freedom of expression. The former fighter pilot turned journalist, novelist and librettist is best known for the 2008 novel which chronicles the final days of hardline dictator General Zia-ul-Haq’s rule and the myriad conspiracies behind the plane crash that killed him in 1988. Zia is portrayed by Hanif as a paranoid buffoon backing the Afghan jihad against the Soviets while battling a case of rectal worms.
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