Saadat Hassan Manto remembered on death anniversary

Short story writer and playwright Saadat Hasan Manto was remembered and paid tribute by Twitterati on his 65th death anniversary.

Manto was known to write about the realities of the society that no one dared to talk about.  Manto was born on 11 May 1912 in Ludhiana in British India and breathed his last on 18 January 1955.

He is best known for documenting stories about the partition of sub-continent and highlighted the pain and misery of those times and stood with the victims of partition. Manto attained a unique position in Urdu literature.

Manto, writing mainly in the Urdu language, produced 22 collections of short stories, a novel, five series of radio plays, three collections of essays and two collections of personal sketches.

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, while paying homage to the 65th death anniversary of the great Urdu novelist Saadat Hassan Manto, said that the manner in which Manto has described the bitter realities of the society is unparalleled

“Manto short story writing depicted the picture of society,” he further said.

گورنر پنجاب چوہدری محمد سرور نے اردو کے عظیم افسانہ نگار سعادت حسن منٹو کی 65 ویں برسی پر خراج تحسین پیش کرتے ہوۓ کہا ہے کہ منٹو نے معاشرے کی تلخ حقیقتوں کو جس انداز سے بیان کیا ہے اس کی نظیر نہیں ملتی۔منٹو کی افسانہ نگاری معاشرے کی تصویر ہے۔#SaadatHasanManto pic.twitter.com/xNpv0xL22E

— Team Sarwar (@TeamSarwar) January 18, 2021

Not an easy life

Manto was tried for obscenity six times; thrice before 1947 in British India, and thrice after independence in 1947 in Pakistan, but he was never convicted.

He is acknowledged as one of the finest 20th century Urdu writers and is the subject of two biographical films: Manto, directed by Sarmad Khoosat and the 2018 film Manto, directed by Nandita Das.