Thesis "The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid"

1
THE PRISONER AS A SATIRE ON THE POLICE;
MORALS AND POLITICIANS
CHAPTER -1
INTRODUCTION
Many writers of fiction shape their literary works in diverse ways.
Some highlight the economic skirmish among the upper-class 'haves' and
lower-class 'have-nots'.
Each of these and many others, who focus on different issues, use various
literary techniques to convey their themes to the reader. One among other
literary techniques they use is satire.
Satire is a method used by the literary writers to uncover and vilify idiocy and
venality of a person or a society by using hilarity, sarcasm, hyperbole or scorn.
It aims at refining the human society by disapproving its idiocies and quirks.
An author in a satire employs imaginary characters, which are substituted for
real people, to portrait and denounce their corruption. Moreover, he expects
that the characters he denounces will refine them by debilitating their faults
and flaws.
Satire is a vital part of all forms of literature. It is difficult for human

2
beings to always lead a sincere and glum life. They require glee, mental
letup and reformation of some sort. Since literature is the facsimile of
life it produces not only grave, delicate and gentle literary pieces but
also the need for mild, mature and warm compositions has always been
longed for to coax and cajole the readers. To maintain the regularity and
steadiness of life the elements of humour and satire are always needed.
Commonly humour and satire are used as a compound genre but they
are two different words having two distinct meanings. Simon
Wiesenthal is of the view that humour is the tool of peaceful people: it
aids people who are oppressed to smile. In fact, humour flourishes
where intelligence flops. Moving on to the better half of humour that is
satire, sarcasm and taunt as defined by the encyclopedia Britannica;
“Satire in its literary aspect, may be defined as the expression in
adequate terms of the sense of amusement or disgust excited by
the ridiculous or unseemly, provided that humour is the distinctly
recognizable element and that the utterance is invested with
literary form without humor, satire is invective; without literary
form, it is mere clownish jeering”

3
The process of sarcasm shares a lot with surgery. As a surgeon dismembers
and opens up the human body in order to disentangle it by the infected portion,
similarly a satirist identifies the follies of the society and disconnects it of the
corruptive matters. Although it is true and admitted that a satirist definitely
has the enjoyment and passion of elatedness and supremacy present in him.
Whatever a satirist targets he shows his tenderness towards it and is desirous
to amend and aspire it. Perhaps the element of sympathy is absent which is
considered to be the spirit of humour. Abu-Al-Khair considering, states:
“Those satirists who extract amusement and laugh at the
helplessness of people can never reach the heights. A good
satirist is a merciless surgeon and ruthlessly dissects but in his
satire there are no signs of personal revenge or hollowness. His
sole purpose is constructive and to bring forward a positive
change. The objective of his art is to point out the hideousness of
life and to beautify society.”
Whether it is satire or humour both require sincerity and fidelity, whereas,
prejudice, priggishness and ego are all considered injurious for them. Making
somebody a subject of humour or satirizing someone on the basis of personal

4
complaints is a complete violation of the rules and is extremely cheap in itself.
That is the reason, why in every literature it is considered to be the humour
and satire of the lowest degree.
The most appealing instances of crime fiction demonstrates not only
how their protagonist’s mind works, but also how the city they are functioning
in works. The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid is one of the instances of
similar works, wherein the writer has employed satire to reflect the present-
day society.
Omar Shahid Hamid has worked in Karachi Police Department for
almost more than a decade. During his job, he has been violently beleaguered
by countless extremist groups and organizations. He was wounded while on
job and his office was bombed by the Taliban in 2010. He got a Masters in
Criminal Justice Policy from the renowned institute of London and a Masters
in Law from U. C London. The Prisoner is his first novel, which is the
marvelous stroke of the writer’s pen.
With his unveiling novel The Prisoner, Omar Shahid Hamid lets the
booklovers see through the eyes of Deputy Superintendent Constantine
D’Souza of Karachi’s Central Prison and also get discernment into the city.

5
The Prisoner is a story where the framework rather than the plot provides the
sense for a fast paced and mesmerizing unveiling novel by Omar Shahid
Hamid. Written with marvelous dexterity and authenticity, this book is a page-
turner which concomitantly manages to highlight the role of multifaceted and
diverged interests at play in a city where nothing is quite what it appears to
be.
The novel has been published by Pan Macmillian in India and it offers a
straightforward look at those pacifications and predicaments. The novel
consists of 21 sequel plots entwined with the main theme. It is an amazing
effort, not only a fast paced, humble and politically insightful story but it is
one which portrays those most demonized of professionals Karachi’s
policemen in a fairly audacious approach.
The novel (The Prisoner) is deeply entrenched in veracity, though the
rowdy pace and the author’s artistic narrative style disproves the verity behind
the aptly re-counting narrative.
The author interlaces a drapery of world proceedings and timelines into
his characters’ complex existence to shape his cogently entwined plot in a
tenor of expression well designed to the audience and readers of sub-
continent.

6
The nimble-fingered use of Pakistan’s dramatic boulevard language
offers a robust ether of validity with the scolding that worldwide readers may
intensify some vigilant editing and appropriation of a lexicon of the vernacular
Urdu used in the narrative to explicate plot lines and characters. His insight
understanding and unfathomable knowledge of the hot questions of policing
in Pakistan has brought forward a gem clear account of how the Pakistani
Police are trying to tackle the war against the culprits, terrorists and the
notorious politicians in the conflicted and politically disturbed country.
The novel, “The Prisoner” is an eye-opening narrative and amalgam of
high conspiracy, paltry politics, religious conflicts, throat-cutting animosity
and police ventures that whets the common Pakistani’s resolve to create the
paramount of the nastiest situations. The author enthralls his reader’s with
consummate penetration and facet while unfolding how the lower staff in
Pakistan’s police department manages to escape and survive – carrying
exclusively on their eerie aptitude to accomplish the ‘gora sahib’s’ behest:
those honored gazetted police officers and their supervisors aka ‘voted office-
bearers’. A glimpse of his mind; his vision of the surrounding i.e. how he
brandishes influence, coaxes, handles and sways thus molding the world
surrounding him just to tolerate.

7
The police of any area can either reform a society or deform it. It is the
first most responsibility of the police department to provide freedom to the
general public from threats, ensure life safety, snub those elements which
create hurdles in the way of progress and hunt down the terrorists/culprits.
Among the most prominent characters in this novel are Nawaz Chandio the
hotheaded politician, the city’s DON in deportation, IG Dr. Death, Home
Minister Pakora, SP Akbar Khan and the sleuths belonging to various law
enforcing agencies are well-known to the Pakistani book-lovers.
The next most significant character is the novel’s protagonist, AKBAR
KHAN, a grizzled cop taken to imprisonment in the case of the murder of a
politician who has the key to liberating an abducted American journalist.
Khan’s character is based on the life and services of Chaudhry Aslam Khan,
a committed and sacrificing police officer in the Karachi Police famous for
his inspective perseverance and on the spot inquiry and punishment. Aslam
has kept plenty of detractors in contact, who inform him about corruption and
extrajudicial killings at the same time he has many cohorts, who eulogize his
public battle and endeavor against the Taliban terrorists, who are establishing
their network in Karachi and its vicinity.

8
CONSTANTINE D'SOUZA is intermittence in the Karachi police, a
Christian police officer and a man stuck in the middle of powerful challenging
forces. Dithering between his loyalty to an old friendship and the obligations
of his profession, what should he do?
MAQSOOD MAHR is one of the most potent men in the city; he is connected
to everyone − the government, the opposition and all the Agencies. Some say
his inspiration bounces all the way to the Presidency in Islamabad. Others
claim he is in direct contact with the Don, the shadowy head of the United
Front who lives in self-imposed exile in New York. Maqsood Mahr always
heartens these buzzes, for he knows that the deception of power is often more
important than the reality.
PAKORA is a man with no scruples, who sits atop the Party's nexus of crime
and politics in the city. No one dares to contemplate his removal as Home
Minister because he is the chosen favourite of the Don, and Don’s word is law
in this city.
COLONEL TARKEEN -The decisive sleuth. A man who has served within
the city's intelligence establishment for years, he has a comprehensive gen of
the officers of the Karachi Police, an expert thoughtful of who was good, who
was bad, who was corrupt and who was weak, whom to cuddle, and how.

9
In this thesis, I endeavor to explore further that refined literature is ethically
cherished, through smearing it to a definite type of fiction: the contemporary
hard-edged gumshoe novel especially The Prisoner. Reading novels can
improve ethical education and training. The writer of this novel has
established a refined and unique instance of how novels can be socially and
ethically significant. The moral and social supervision we may excerpt from
case-hardened gumshoe novels is precisely the Aristotelian ethics which
Nussbaum often applauses.
In his book, Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing, Edwin Delattreis of the
opinion:
Policing inescapably embraces a noteworthy level of fiasco. No
society- and unquestionably no legitimate state that pays
attention to civil rights and independences- can thwart all crime
or detain all wrongdoers. Expertise recruits must promote a
genuine sense of what amounts as success, what tallies as failure,
and how to sentient with both.
Police Officers in Pakistan are facing an inimitably arduous position. Due to
the bourgeoning fanatic and extremist activities on a diurnal basis the
Pakistani police propel offidrawn cers into circumstances and quandaries
which pose not only threat to life, but equally tangible emotive and

10
psychosomatic threats too. It has become a out conclusion that the Officers
have to face failure on a daily basis due to cunning and dirty politicians i.e.
spoliation and death threat to their families, the fiasco of relations, the botch
of communities, the catastrophe of society. Officers are being pushed into
demanding and deadly scenarios where the need is so pronounced and the
resources are so limited that it injects spirits and emotions of lethargy and
sarcasm, which in turn give rise to the feelings of aggression and umbrage not
only for the organization, but to the very citizens for whom they have vowed
to sacrifice impartially.
The police officers must have both individual and professional honesty and
fortitude. Veracity and reliability are characterized by fundamental individual
norms and values like fidelity, bravery, uprightness, self-will, and broad-
mindedness. Veracity is theoretically centered, logically challenging, and
ethically unbending. The same has been depicted by Omar Shahid Hamid
through his characters endeavoring for the official pursuits. Those, who are
digressing from it are digressing from it, are employing their own notorious
methods. Clearly no one can know it all in a field as diverse as the policing of
Pakistan, but none the less, front-line leaders must maintain a working
knowledge of the major procedural and technical aspects of the primary duties
of their officers. This includes a working knowledge of enforcement codes,

11
current case law, department instructions, and management policies to name
just a few. These areas represent the “black and white/bread and butter”
issues of law enforcement, and a leader’s credibility and effectiveness is
dependent on competence in this domain.
The precise hallmarks of the case-hardened gumshoe narrative can be
explained as follows: a proclivity for sophism and a denial and violation of
rules and regulations, a tendency to upkeep about what is happening in their
surrounding and to be susceptible in their action by this compassion, and their
character can be observed to develop and more sophisticated as compared to
others which they have scrutinized. On these arenas, I have argued, how the
writer has employed satire to probe into the police’ moral and methods.
It can be predicted that that a fervent book lover may be directed into how to
pinpoint and scratch crime and corruption everywhere. If it is possible and
true, we have to consider twice before endorsing crime literature as part and
parcel of a progression in moral perfection.
The struggle and sacrifice in search of justice and peace is very costly and
deadly because those who endeavor for it they are chased, threatened to death
and isolated from their social and family life by the detectives and chaser of

12
the gangs and culprits. The same is faced by the central characters of The
Prisoner.
While on the contrary, the investigator is psychosomatically and ardently
sharp-eyed, and exceedingly impulsive to such a degree that it recommends
they have insight, wit and wisdom to probe into the conundrum and bring forth
the harsh reality they are facing with iron nerve and fortitude by sacrificing
their family and social life.
It is the great care of the detective that he gets through an exhausting inquiry,
hazards, and disparagements. He also pays attention to the prey /target and
their toughies; they also take care of the past or future sufferers of related
criminalities. They are cautious of the gloom they expose in the course of
investigation, and they are furious with the culprit and all other who support
him or her - they are frustrated that that justice is undermined.
The sequential nature of case-hardened detective fiction empowers the writer
to create their hero/heroine. The detective is observed to establish and
stabilize, and mature as the story progresses from one episode to another as
they face evil and jump to cope with it.
They are not only frightened of it, but also get quicker of comprehension of
it, profounder in their rejoinders, movements and sentiments, and

13
extraordinary talented to perceive the whole panorama of evil in which they
are probing.
If crime fictions and novels are to promote the social and moral education,
then they should be made approachable and decipher able to the contemporary
readers at especially to those whose minds are yet to be polished and reshaped.
Therefore, it would be worthwhile if the detective novels and crime fiction,
which fail to qualify the title of high literature or the junk fiction type but
improve the readers’ moral and character.

14
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Making use of various literary techniques and elements enriches the value of
a literary work. It also reinforces the message the author attempts to convey
to his/her readers, thereby increasing the readability of the text. In line with
this, The Prisoner by Omar Shahid Hamid is thought to employ different
literary techniques, among which are satire and comedy. Apart from
producing delightful pieces of literary work, he reflects the socio- political
aspects of society in humorous ways by using slang Urdu. Hence, the writer's
employment of satire on police and politics to highlight messages in the novel
has been investigated. On top of that, satirical and comic elements should be
singled out to enhance literary appreciation and understanding of the texts.
RESEARCH QUESTION
How has the author Omar Shahid Hamid explored the morals and
methods of police & politicians with the help of the technique of
satire?

15
DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
A number of themes crop up in this novel. The major focus in this novel is on
so-called world of jihadis, corrupt police officers, blood thirsty politicians,
die-hard kidnappers and malignant mafias. However, the main focus in this
research has been laid on police morals and politicians to dissect into the
reality of the matters, which has been concealed by the culprits.

16
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The study attempts to provide a deeper understanding of satire as a medium
of social and political criticism. It also examines how Omar Shahid Hamid
used language and literary techniques to highlight social evils and suggest
ways in which the evils can be combated. The study may contribute to the
understanding and literary appreciation of the writer's use of satire and
comedy. In addition, this study provides some important points that can serve
as a springboard for other in-depth analysis on similar literary techniques.
This study also serves as an incentive for the future researchers to probe
into how the writers of crime fiction manipulate language and literary
devices/techniques to weave the plot and themes in such works.

17
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study attempts to provide a deeper understanding of satire as a medium
of social and political criticism. It also examines how Omar Shahid Hamid
used language and literary techniques to highlight social evils and suggest
ways in which the evils can be combated. The study may contribute to the
understanding and literary appreciation of the writer's use of satire and
comedy. In addition, this study may provide some important points that can
serve as a springboard for other in-depth analysis on similar literary
techniques
This study also serves as an incentive for the future researchers to probe
into how the writers of crime fiction manipulate language and literary

18
CHAPTER -2
LITERATURE REVIEW
The subject research is first of its kind. The writer of this novel has
aptly provided a natural setting by establishing its plot in the grand city of
Karachi depicting ruthless killing, declining economy, devastated business,
loaming shadow of death and tough ties among convicts, police, politicians,
and emissaries.
Contrary to this, the earnest pleasure or displeasure of mind and thought
gives vitality to humour and satire. Then the most difficult aspect of this skill
is to criticize your own self. To ridicule others and make them the target of
buffoonery is comparatively easy but to mock at oneself jovially is most
difficult thing in the world. It is therefore rightly said by Shabi-ul- Hassan that
only those nations are considered to be civilized who can make fun of their
weaknesses. Satire can only grow and develop in such societies where people
have prudent and practical approach towards life. Only those people give
space to satire who have the patience and iron-will for change. Rasheed
Ahmad Siddiquee speaks that humour and satire can only develop in those
countries and nations who are independent and value independence. But this
genre cannot build up among the nations who are bound in the shackles of

19
slavery. Among the people where gods and monarchs are worshiped only
unmannerly language vulgar shenanigans can be found but not decent and
quality humour and satire.
Sarcasm exposes before the readers the personal idiocy and
mortification of others which can only be fingered by a ripe mind of decent
palate and meticulous attitude. In short, it is a category whose reader is not
only able to see the liabilities of others but their own transgressions as well.
The element of humour makes this genre light hearted, cheerful, friendly and
infective. It is therefore necessary that it should not be cheapo and uncouth
but should rather be meaningful, far reaching, universalized and durable.
Some of the literary writers were those who were not basically
humorists but their writings reflect the sweetness of humour and satire. Some
salient names of such writers are Mehdi-ul-Afadi, Abual kalam Azad, Mehfuz
Ali Badauni, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Qazi Abdul Ghaffar, Khawaja Hassan
Nizami, Abdul Majeed Salik, Majeed Lahori, Ibrahim Jalees and Abdul Maj
Daryabadi etc. The eminent names among modern humour writers are:
Colonel Muhammad Khan, Shafeeq-ur-Rehman, Kanhaiya Lal Kapoor,
IbneInsha, Mashkoor Hussain Yaad, Attaul-Haq-Qasmi, Sadique Salik,
Yousaf Nazim, Khawaja Abdul Ghafoor, Mujtaba Hussain, Younas Butt and

20
Mushtaq Ahmad Yousafi. The most protuberant name among them is
Mushtaq Ahmad Yousafi who is a natural humourist. His writings are
festooned and adorned with special formalities but his sentences are smooth,
pleasant and abrupt. He is witty and derives meanings out of meanings and
deduces deep hidden meanings from ostensible portrayals which seem to be
an adlibbed conversation of a scholar. Most of his topics are taken from our
day-to-day life but even from these common topics he seeks out some strange
and amazing aspects of humour. Shahid Mashqi says that the foresight of
Yousafi penetrates into human psyche and makes observations…He
sometimes talks about such things which are not real but seems to be a reality
and sometimes presents such things which are not apparently real but are
based on sheer reality. Both these ways are the techniques of paradox which
are found in abundance in the writings of Patras and Rasheed Ahmad
Saddiquee. The pleasant form of such paradox is found at many places in the
writings of Yousafi.
Mohammad Hanif ‘s books, “A Case of Exploding Mangoes” and “Our Lady
of Alice Bhatti,” mirror intricacies from writer’s time and experience in
Pakistan and derides frictional disputes for example the plane crash that took
the life of the former Pakistani president or vision of non-Muslims in Pakistani
community.

21
Hanif views that he often makes his work funnyin order to present
cheerfulness for the readers of Pakistani literature and makes provocative
issues easier to discuss and decipher.
“There’s a long history in Pakistan of making fun of stuff … because we live
in such troubled times,” Hanif said. “It comes out of despair. It comes out of
a kind of oppression that people know they are trying to live with, but they
can’t. The books are a way for people to relate to that.”
“Beautiful from this Angle”, Maha Khan Phillips’s début novel is a brilliant
satire on present-day Pakistan. Although it has been classified as chick-lit, it
is certainly more than that. The story is told in third person and the narrator
perceptibly harbours partiality for the protagonist, Amynah Faruqi. The
cunning and punning narrator takes any and everybody in contemporary
Pakistan to task in an disrespectful and mocking tone. The ultra-rich; the
subalterns; the jihadis; the American and Pakistan forces fighting the war on
terror; the reality TV shows; the landlords, the lot of seemingly oppressed
Pakistani women; the NGOs working for female emancipation; the
politicians; the journalists; the nationalist mindset; the societal norms; the
maulvis; the news channels like Fox News; the moral policing; no one and
nothing has been spared by the author.

22
Saadat Hassan Manto influenced by Guy De Maupassant –French story writer,
was one of the finest short story writers of Pakistan. He acquired great fame
and fortune while he was living in Bombay. He later shifted to Lahore in early
1984, but he could not write freely as he had planned. Once he offered bribe
for getting train ticket in Pakistan, but he was told emphatically that “This is
Pakistan” and that such malpractices are forbidden in this country. The sense
of transition and rejection of social injustice was resilient in the early days of
Pakistan. Consequent upon such freedom, Manto was prosecuted for nastiness
three times in independent Pakistan and there was great pressure on the
publishers and the editors of newspapers that circulated his stories and
columns to stop offering him a platform to write.
That’s why there is only a meager percentage of booklovers who know or read
the works of Manto. Now a days the fictions and works of Manto is neither
taught at the lower or university level nor is there an extensive debate or
evaluation of his great works in civil society.
Satire is a kind of social and moral disparagement, but it is quite
complicated. It is really challenging for the readers to first identify what the
author is making fun of and how he is using different literary devices in this
regard. Later on, the readers have to distinguish what the author is suggesting
whether it is the just and proper thing to do or not.

23
It is very hard to analyze in the writing of Swift. The drive of satire is
to modify readers’ minds. Satire writers employ humor, overstatement, and
caustic juxtaposition to show readers that the approach they are familiarized
with dissecting their world is irrational.
The purpose and function of an effective satire is not only to pass criticism on
society but it also aims at measuring the intensity of corruption and crisis in
the society. That’s why Swift is considered to be the greatest satirist in prose.
Satire acquired great popularity in literary genre during the late 1600s and
early 1700s. It was developed almost seventeen hundred years ago by Roman
writers like Horace, Juvenal, and Persius, and it was perfected by Englishmen
of Swift’s time.
In Britain satire appeared as a reaction to the failure of the Age of Reason i.e.
the incapability of scientific approach to refine and improve life in a way that
would reduce massive scale sufferings.
The most talented and renowned satirical writers are considered to be Swift,
John Dryden, and Alexander Pope. “A Modest Proposal” by Swift is known
to be the best and short satire in the English literary circle. The essay’s
dominant inkling is to unravel Ireland’s famine and deprivation issue by
slaughtering and eating poor children, turns on harsh irony and wit, which are

24
the basic constituents of satire. In Swift’s opinion, satire uncovered the
discriminations and malpractices of life.
The 1700s is marked as the golden age of satire as it gave birth to a group of
eminent writers who, like Swift, endeavored to make their readers to laugh at
men out of their follies. By the Age of Reason, satire was considered to be a
reasonable method of ridicule, while the consummate assaults could be
reckoned treasonous and penalized by death. Leaving out the fear of
government persecution and considering satire - a more influential form of
inspiration and reinforcement, Swift employed this medium to derive
revolution and exhaust his fury. “A Modest Proposal” has been titled as the
murkiest leaflet he ever inscribed and it mirrored Swift’s mounting sarcasm
and fury toward society.
Gulliver Travels is a great sardonic work. It is drafted in the custom of a
travel-book. Swift adopted the form of a travelogue because travel-books had
been very popular for a long time in those days. Swift’s purpose in writing
this book was to stroke all mankind for their idiocies, vices, irrationalities, and
evil ways, and to bring about some reform if possible.
Gulliver’s Travels is an allegorical satire because Swift does not attack
persons and institutions directly but in an oblique manner. All the persons and

25
institutions and other aspects of life attacked by Swift are presented in this
book in masquerade.
Swift's purpose is enhanced by the form and structure of the whole
work, like the precise symbols in all the four voyages. First of all, Swift took
great pains in portraying Gulliver's Travels in the authentic and standard
arrangement of the prevalent travelogues of the contemporary society. It is
narrated to the readers that Gulliver was a seaman, first he served as a ship's
surgeon, then as the captain of some other ships.
Swift crafts a convincing structure by integrating nautical jargon, in depth
details which are correlated in an accurate ship's-log style, and frequent
assertions by Gulliver, in his account to recount simple matter(s) of datum in
the humblest manner and elegance. This context offers a realistic sense and
authenticity that diverges abruptly with the eccentric nature of the satirical
work, and creates the paramount tongue-in-cheek layer of The Travels.
Tuveson depicts that in Gulliver's Travels there is a continuous to and fro
movement between factual and illusory, customary and ridiculous...until the
social standards of imprudence are so stress-free that people are prepared to
purchase a pig in a poke.

26
All the four books of the Travels are portrayed in a parallel way as voyages 1
and 2 are based on denigration of various aspects of contemporary English
society, and man within this his social setup, while books 3 and 4throw light
on the typical human nature. On the other hand, all these aspects correspond
to each other, and as the voyage progresses, readers are given an in-depth
vision through Gulliver about the obnoxious human nature and gradually
reaching the climax in Gulliver's epiphany when he categorizes himself with
the despicable Yahoos.
Intrinsically, the whole edifice also moves like a helix leading to an
epicenterof discovery and self-realization. In other words, Swift's satire
moves from remote to inland scenes, from organizations to personages, and
from manhood to individual.
Jonathan Swift being the dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Ireland, observed
the unnecessary and dreadful forfeits of starvation and deprivations especially
the poorer class in Ireland. Swift was writing at a time when the living
conditions in Ireland touched a disastrous level in 1729. A large number of
men, women, and children were faced by panhandling and dearth due to the
crop failures, increasing percentage of unemployment, inflation, and trade
constraints forced by the British government.

27
In order to suggest a remedial to the public sufferings, Swift wrote “A Modest
Proposal” as a social satire in which he denounced this subject by making use
of irony and wit and envisioned to generate laughter, disdain, or annoyance in
the readers. The essay was like boiled water with acrid words for those whom
Swift considered to be responsible for the poor condition of the Irish public
i.e the British regime, crooked proprietors and traders, and “Absentees”, who
escaped away in 1714 when George I took over the government. He also
disapproved the “projectors,” people who gave usually ridiculous and naive
elucidations to multifaceted problems. “A Modest Proposal” suggests a
solution to all these problems in a sarcastic tone.
In “A Modest Proposal” Swift hardly spares any social behavior, conspiracy,
hypocrisy, and corruption in the social institutions. As a social satire, the aim
behind Gulliver's Travels is to mirror the corruption and malpractices of the
18th
C English Community. The first voyage mainly focuses on the corrupt
judicial system and nepotism in the court i.e. the exuberant indulgence of the
Lilliputian ministers in such practices highlights this point.
Gulliver was also excluded from the king’s favor because he could not quench
the king’s thirst for power. The difference between Whig and Troy has been
shown by the height of their heels and likewise, the religious variations have

28
been mirrored by the petty dispute between the Big-Endians and the Small-
Endians.
The hypocrisy of the politicians has been highlighted by Swift by putting
forward the malpractices of Lilliputian society e.g rewarding those who are
having good relations with the court and punishing those who are not actually
the accusers and boorish. He is of the opinion that like other human beings the
Lilliputians fails to come up to their own values and morals as they brand and
charge Gulliver of mutiny even though he has helped them.
Swift, by intruding the caption of “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the
Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country,
and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public,” puts that anyone who finds
an elixir for the economic and social crisis of Ireland is a national hero.
Swift expects to receive replies and solutions from the politicians and the
general public but he stresses that no solution is possible until every individual
reforms himself and tries hard to put all the efforts to stop malpractices.
Orwell too shows himself as a great satirist in Animal Farm. Animal Farm too
is an allegorical satire. But the scope of Animal Farm is very limited by
comparison with Gulliver’s Travels. Swift’s book attacks all mankind, but
Orwell’s book is a political satire which attacks certain political institutions

29
and certain selected political personalities and events. Besides, Orwell’s book
is written in the form of an animal fable. Orwell’s object in writing this book
also was to reform the thinking of those who had been misguided or who had
formed wrong judgments about certain political systems and political
personalities.
Animal Farm is a satire or the course taken by revolutions in general and by
the Russian Revolution of October, 1917 in particular. It is a satire on the
process by which a revolution is effected and by which it is afterwards
betrayed. This book has a particular and pointed reference to the Communist
regime in Russia under Stalin who came to power soon after the death in 1924
of Lenin. Orwell had felt much disgusted with the arbitrary and brutal methods
which Stalin had been adopting to consolidate his power and with the way in
which Stalin had betrayed the ideals of the Russian Revolution to establish a
totalitarian regime in the country. Stalin had employed cunning, deceit, fraud,
and force to achieve his purposes; and Orwell wrote Animal Farm to poke fun
at Stalin and Stalin’s methods and to degrade Stalin in our eyes. His object
was to open the eyes of his readers to the truth about Stalin and also about
revolutions in general.
As already pointed out, the satire here takes the form of an animal fable. The
main characters are the animals of whom the pigs are the most important.

30
From among the class of the pigs, three leaders emerge. These leaders are
Napoleon, Snowball, and Squealer. The principal targets of satire are
Napoleon, who represents Stalin, and Squealer who represents the Communist
propaganda machinery, especially the servile Soviet Press. Another target of
satire is Moses, the raven, who represents religious institutions like the Roman
Catholic Church.
Napoleon is the chief target of satire in Animal Farm. This pig has r reputation
for getting things done in accordance with his own wishes. He is contrasted
with Snowball who is candid and open in his methods, white Napoleon works
in devious ways. Snowball can impress the animals with his eloquent,
speeches and can sway their judgment. But Napoleon works behind the scenes
and is able to canvass support for himself in a secretive manner. Napoleon is
especially successful with the sheep who are trained to bleat a slogan “Four
legs good, two legs bad” and who interrupt the animals’ meetings by their
loud bleating whenever Snowball is about to score a point against Napoleon.
Napoleon has also secretly reared a number of dogs and trained them to obey
his orders. By his cunning and by his use of the fierce-looking dogs, Napoleon
is able to drive Snowball away from the farm and to become the sole leader
of the animals. All this is Orwell’s satirical method of informing us that Stalin
had used deceit and the force of his secret police in order to pass an order of

31
banishment against his rival Trotsky. After Trotsky had been sent into exile,
Stalin became the sole dictator of Russia. Thus the power-politics rampant in
Russia of that time is also satirized here.
There are workers and shirkers in every society. Boxer and Clover in this story
represent the honest and conscientious workers, while Mollie represents the
shirkers. The portrayal of Mollie is satirical in intention. Mollie avoids doing
any work on the farm. She is fond of wearing red ribbons in her white mane
and chewing a lump of sugar. She is also vain about her appearance and often
stands on the bank of a pool, admiring her own reflection in the water. She is
cowardly too, because when a battle has to be fought against Mr. Jones and
his men, she runs away into the stable and buries her head in the hay. Boxer’s
adopting the motto “Napoleon is right”, and his meeting a sad fate when he
has become useless from Napoleon’s point of view, are a satire on the
treatment which the common people receive in Russia when they can serve
the nation no longer. Boxer’s fate symbolically conveys to us the callousness
of a dictator like Stalin.
In ‘An American Brat’, Bapsi Sidhwa seems to be more interested in
reconnoitering the prospects of contrast and comparison of Pakistani and
American civilizations. For the sake of comparison, Sidhwa has used basically
two characters e.g. Protagonist – Feroza and her uncle Manek. This theme is

32
also highlighted in the short stay of Zareen in ‘New World’. In order to
understand the comparison drawn by Sidhwa, we must analyse
the characteristics of both civilizations.
Sidhwa has highlighted the characteristic of Pakistani society a lot. She
condemned the fundamentalism through the words of Zareen when she says:
“Could you imagine Feroza cycling to school now?... what I could do in 59
and 30, my daughter can’t do in 1978.”
Sidhwa also made his reader aware of the fact that these political problems
create psychological problems in youth and Zareen took important decision
of sending Feroza to America because of this problem.
“I think we should send Feroza to America for a short holiday… she is been
so desperate lately;
You are right, it’s these politics”
The family set-up and configuration in Pakistani society is very rigid and
solid, where the orders and respect of the elders cannot be waived off. Even
Zareen has to answer her mother when she decided to send her daughter to
America Kuttibai asked her in satirical tone that

33
“….. ping, ping and you don’t bother to consult with your elders or elder
brother”
In Pakistani community no objection can be raised easily against the religion
and morality because in the said community no compromise can be made of
religious and moral values.
Feroza was unable to marry according to her happiness because of her
religious restrictions. David’s parents can permit him to marry outside their
religion but Zareen is horrified with the thought that Feroza would marry
anyone other than Parsee. She even considers Feroza’s children illegitimate
and thinks:
“She would be branded an adulteress and her children pronounced
illegitimate. She would be accused of committing the most heinous sacrileges.
Cut off from her culture and her surroundings like a fish in shallow waters,
her child would eventually shrivel up. And her dread for Feroza altered her
opinion of David.”
In Pakistani male dominating society, women are economically, socially and
psychologically depend on the males where they have no say of their own. In
the introductory chapter, Sidhwa used ‘high heels’ as a symbol of quest of
men to become equal. She writes about Zareen:

34
“Her high-heeled slippers clicking determinedly beneath the hem of the
printed silk caftan she usually wore in the house, Zareen followed
her husband into the bedroom. She always wore high heels, "to measure up to
my husband," and removed them only when she got into bed or stepped into
her bath.”
It has been observed that the Pakistani families after enjoying freedom in
European communities stress undeniable respect from their children, as
Feroza declares:
“Feroza's parents, her aunts, and uncles, for all their assertions of being
broad-minded and modern, would expect unquestioning obedience on
certain matters, like the relationships between various family members, and
between boys and girls, and would view with consternation any straying
from die established path.”
Pakistani community is rather conservative in their approach towards religion
and they spare no chance to scold anyone who digresses from the religious
preaching although they may not be following them. On the other hand
Americans are broadminded regarding the religious approach and they
consider it to be the personal matter of every individual.

35
David’s parents feel nothing bad about their son marrying a girl outside their
religion. But Zareen and Cyrus cannot tolerate this decision and Zareen has to
fly to America in order to intervene the decision. Feroza’s fan
in Pakistan behave in the way that Bunny, Feroza’s cousin was forced to say:
“Jeroo and Behram's daughter Bunny, who was by now
a pert fifteen-year-old with light brown eyes and a dark ponytail
she tossed frequently, said, "For God's sake! You're carrying on
as if Feroza's dead! She's only getting married, for God's
sake!"”
Politics in Pakistan is the keen interest of everyone from a bagger to a political
analyst because it effects every individual. The government can be run without
any disruption and it would not disturb Jo’s life as in American policy.
In America, there are proper set of socially accepted manners and code of
conduct that give freedom to each and every citizen to live freely and as they
deem better.
Feroza tries hard to mold herself according to those manners i.e. the
sophisticated manners of eating, dealing with the public and not to interfere
in the personal matters of others.

36
As she (Feroza) has to face embarrassment when she fails to convey her
demand properly to the sales girls in a drug store. She demands:
“May I have this, please?” and she answered: “"You may
not. You'll have to pay for it. This isn't the Salvation Army,
y'know; it's a drugstore."
Similarly Sara Suleri's in her work, Meatless Days castoffs any traditional
possibility in classifying others according to one’s own desire and ideology.
She moved from Pakistan basically due to the imposition of both postcolonial
and feminist theory, restrictions to be free and no opportunity to search one’s
identity, she thus under took literary voyage. Suleri then sketches her
discourse by informing her readers, "my reference is to a place where the
concept of woman was not really part of an available vocabulary: we were too
busy for that, just living, and conducting precise negotiations with what it
meant to be a sister or a child or a wife or a mother or a servant" .
After going through Suleri’s prose, the readers can imagine how she
endeavored to rebuild the vanished society and world of women with all rights
and identity playing an important social role.

37
Suleri's has aptly defined the roles and services rendered by the innocent and
depressed women by categorizing her as sister, child, wife, mother, servant ,
whichever the title gifted to her by the dominating male society.
There is no doubt that the standing or importance of women relies greatly on
her socio-economic position or family background. The worse role of all is
that of servant where she is considered no more human and where she is
denied all the social rights.
It is worth to mention here that the whole crime world cannot be the whole
foundation of a crime fiction as different names were used for describing
various types of Crime Fictions.
The peak time of crime fiction commences with Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘tales of
ratiocination’, to the horror and gumshoe fiction by the end of the twentieth
century and the American crime fiction during the phase between the WW-I
and WW-II First World War. That’s why most of the critical studies have been
titled as Crime Fiction for the last twenty years.
Thus the basic function of satire and crime fiction is not only to make fun of
others follies or to expose the crimes prevalent in the society but it also aims
at admonishing the public and prepare them to change their estimations about
the predominant sleaze/disarrays in society.

38
“The Prisoner” is a similar type of crime fiction where the conflicted and
complicated socio-political crime world provides the story outline. The keen
observation, the use of slang Urdu, the in-depth details and the knowledge.
Written with amazing skill and authenticity, this book of culprits and their
mode of crime reflects the mastery and matchless skill of Omar Shahid
Hamid.
The book’s story and characters appear to be tame in print highlighting the
notorious police procedure and unjustified cases and fake encounter killings
as a usual part of police job but at the same time there are many loyal police
officers who have sacrificed themselves solely to keep peace and protect the
citizens from the clutches of the crime lords, jihadists and dons.
Basically the detective story and crime fiction originates with Edgar
Allan Poe, who is considered to be the ‘father’ of the detective stories.
Crime fiction, but Poe’s detective stories belongs to a subgroup, having
its own peculiar style.
The common factor in all the crime novels, country-house clandestine and
the locked-room mystery is the procedure opted for murder i.e murder
committed by a weapon, by choking or designing a murder in such a way
that it appears to be suicidal

39
The novel “The Prisoner” is deeply embedded in the chapters of reality,
rapidly unfolding the stories of crime and murders. The fabric of plot leads to
the solution of the conundrum of the city of Karachi. The author make a fabric
of the national events and give peculiarity to his characters’ thorny lives to
shape his forcefully intertwined design in a tenor of expression befitting to the
Pakistani audiences.
Omer has skillfully employed Pakistan’s easy-to-read dialect which offers a
robust atmosphere of genuineness with the admonition that intercontinental
booklovers might escalate some prudent editing and addition of a lexicon of
the slang Urdu would give them an insight to plot lines and characters. His
experience in the police department and skills in the operational procedures
Pakistani Police provides an eye-opening justification of how the law
enforcing agencies are tackling terrorism and so-called jihadists in the society
where the economy, culture and national unity are already fractured.
This novel is an apt amalgam of high drama, dirty politics and police raids
which polishes the minds of the Pakistani readers to prepare their minds for
the worst situation.

40
A glance into author’s mind; his vision of the Karachi’s society and his
impression of the socio-political world gives insight how crime is flourishing
and how the agencies are endeavoring to snub them.
This novel also reflects Omar’s service in CID Karachi, the loaming shadow
of threat to his life by treacherous Taliban and his own tragic tale with a
political group which also murdered his father. The plot revolves around how
Taliban group established their hideouts in Karachi and how they kidnapped
the American Journalist for slaughtering on the arrival day of the US President
in Pakistan.
The author takes a bold step in reveling the corruption and felonious
sponsorship prevalent inside Pakistan’s police department, he is also
conscious of warning his readers of the relentless menace of demise, torment
and viciousness the rankers of the police department are endangered to by the
Taliban as well as various metropolitan extremist groups.
In a nutshell, the novel debates that perfect policing can me made thinkable in
a flawless society not in a socio-politically fractured country like Pakistan. Its
constabulary force is thus simply a replication of the society it obliges. It is
called to be valiant, ruthless, candid and crooked in equal levels.

41
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The mode of inquiry for this research paper is qualitative. It is based on
textual analysis. The law and order situation and role of law enforcement
agencies in Karachi formulates the theoretical framework and form the
parameter for analysis and discussion. The process of analysis and discussion
of the textual material has been limited to the research premise namely issues
like countering terrorism, jihadis networks, corrupt police officers and
bloodthirsty political henchmen. To that end, it begins with the discussion of
the concepts of satire as the writer has employed Juvenalian satire to criticize
contemporary persons and institutions that is filled with personal invective,
angry moral indignation, and pessimism. Therefore, the theoretical framework
focuses on brief explanations of the nature and definition of satire. It also
highlights on the characteristics, purposes, and techniques of satire.

42
CHAPTER -3
METHOD OF RESEARCH/ RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The mode of analysis for this study is qualitative, which is based on the text
of novel and the literary skills employed by the author. Qualitative
research is a method of analysis used in various academic circles, especially
in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts.
Qualitative researchers aim at picking up an in-depth understanding of human
behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method
finds out the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when.
Thus limited but significant samples are more often used as compared to the
larger samples.
In the conventional view, qualitative methods produce information only on
the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only
propositions (informed assertions). Quantitative methods are usually used to
seek empirical support for such research hypotheses.
To meet the objectives of the study and to obtain findings, the researcher has
read texts written on satire and comedy. Accordingly, the writer of this thesis
has identified as to how satire demonstrates the fact that humor can be one of
the more functional devices to make social and political criticism. Besides,

43
techniques, purposes, and different features of satire has been investigated
from relevant reference materials.
Finally, the researcher has also gone through previous researches related to
the area, which is the focus of this study, to come up with a sound analysis
and logical conclusion.

44
CHAPTER NO. 4
THE PRISONER ;AS A SOCIAL SATIRE
“The Prisoner” opens on 21st
December, 6:58 am outside the front gate
of Karachi Central prison. The cold weather also reflects the cold command
of the culprits, corrupt police officers against the dutiful and dauntless ones,
bloody big guns and the silly state and hellish home ministers. The tough duty
hours, the sense of never being able to relax, the pressure of politicians and
the big guns of ruling party have bastardized the honest police officers.
The author has not only criticized the corruption, malfunctioning at all
levels but has also paid homage to the daring, loyal and gallant police officers
who laid down their life in the line of duty.
Commenting about the notorious Maqsood Mahr, the new SP, the
author remarks:-
“Maqsood Mahr had always been very honest about his dishonesty”
He is one of the most morally corrupt officer, who spares no chance of
committing any evil especially accepting the golden money from each and
everyone without any discrimination. That’s why Constantine called him
“Hanuman” (Page -42) because the Hindu God Hanuman has two faces, he

45
is a man with double faces and standards. Constantine further remarks about
him:-
"That’s our SO sahib. One minute he says one thing, the next
minute he will do the exact opposite. Somehow he manages to
get along with whoever is in power”(Page-43).
Maqsood Mahr is Khas-o-Khas of the UF- a notorious organization for
destroying peace and people. Most of the corrupt officers try hard that the
gambling and prostitution dens running in the area must pay them instead to
ward. The politicians are holding the sway and they spare no one that’s why
no one take the courage to raid them especially the HAJJI CAMP which is
the den of the top UF goondas (p-43).
“No SHO has ever raided the Hajji Camp” (p-44).
Despite all this Akbar Khan and Constantine damn care about, whom they are
raiding. They took the political lards and wards with iron fist and are
determined to do away with them. In this context, Constantine says to Akbar:-
“Also, let’s not go at this time. Look, all these wardia bastards
are ayaash. They are all up drinking, gambling and whoring
late into the night” (P-46)”

46
All the politicians are spoiled to the back bone and have got themselves
elected to commit every crime and kill & kidnap whomever they want.
Maqsood Mahr is the DIG of Investigations for the Karachi Police, and is the
person directly responsible to recover the American Journalist.
He is connected to everyone i.e. the government, the opposition and all the
agencies, but his greed is insatiable (p-50). Instead keeping his office in order,
“he filled the pockets of his superiors and never aid no to any order, legal
or illegal” (P-51). It is pertinent that half of the crimes are supervised by such
notorious and corrupt officers. Not only this, he is the man who has direct
relation with the political parties. When the politicians ‘wanted to punish
their political opponents, Maqsood would forge false cases against them.
And when those same victimized opponents came to power, he would
provide the same services for them’ (P-51).
His high-ups are of the same lot and are rotten. He has guts to extract bribe
‘whether it is the IG, who wants to hush up things up after his spoilt shot
someone at party, the city police chief who wants him to pick up the bill for
his wife’s shopping excursions to Dubai’ (P-52).
The writer also goes to extent of saying about Mahr in a satirical tone:-
“Maqsood Mahr had always been very honest about his dishonesty (P-58)”

47
And it becomes very difficult for the honest and dutiful officers to fulfill the
insatiable desires of their ‘bosses, the Bleak House wallahs, the Kaalay Gate
wallahs, the Minister’ (P-59).
The Home Minister has also been in the same dirty waters as he wants two of
the priciest girls and a suite at a five-star hotel tonight (P-59).
Akbar Khan also holds low opinion of Maqsood Mahr as he says to
Consendine about Mahr in the following words:-
“Saala, his fatigues were ever-ending”(P-35)
Furthermore, he remarks about his demands’ ‘he is so bloody greedy. No
matter how much money he makes, his stomach asks for more (P-35-36)’. He
is such a corrupt officer that he damn cares about his subordinates and national
interest or peace. He becomes devilish police personnel when he becomes an
SP as the writer puts it
“Worse, now that he’s become an SP. There’s not a single paisa that he can
bear to see go anywhere but his own pocket (P-152)”.
Mahr tries his level best to protect the criminals and drug dealers if they pay
him well, but he fears of the new IG –Dr. Death would sack him. He himself
tells Shashlik Khan- the wine dealer:-

48
“Everything we’ve been working for is going to be destroyed. They’re out to
get you and they’ll screw me for having helped you (174)”.
He further says that ‘Dr Death doesn’t listen to anybody’s sifarish (p-175)’.
Even Shashlik Khan taunts him for his safe escape form police custody:-
‘Listen Maqsood, I’m paying you very good money to manage all our affairs
with the police. So start earning your keep and start figuring
something…(p- 176).
In Chapter-3, the author satirizes, the approach of certain police personnel that
they can earn by hook or crook or the way they like best. As Ali Hassan, Sub
Inspector says:-
“A smart Station In-charge could easily become a millionaire if he managed
to eke out a half-decent tenure at Preedy” (P-27)
By introducing a Christian policeman, Hamid not only reveals some petty
prejudices faced by a member of a religious minority but also tempts the
booklover to observe the re-counting events with a notch of impartiality that
comes from looking through the eyes of someone who would always have the
sense of existence, to some scope, an interloper. That’s why Constantine

49
knew that he would never become the station In-charge because he had no
influential connections (P-27).
Even the naika (girl supplier/Chief Madam of all the prostitutes) negotiates
the monthly rates for the brothels (p-28) with those who have lust for money
and greed for girls. They can’t even afford her anger because ‘if she grew
angry, she would stop the local police station’s rather lucrative monthly
payments’(P-92).
The dirty politicians have even the hold on police stations and have licensed
themselves to commit crimes as Ali Hassan advises Consendine, ‘power is in
their hands and we have to listen to those who are in power’ (P-30). The
police even fear to touch them. In this context, Ali Hassan reflects, ‘Our duty
is to obey the ruling party, not the law’(P-30).
Because if they capture any politician or his relatives they get high command
to release them with respect even after release, the police face threats as well
as protest from them.
If the police kill any criminal in an encounter, they also have to face death
threats and strikes. Akbar Khan always has a sarcastic remark for them and
has the courage to hit in their eyes. He replies to the explanation of Dr. Death,
IG against the notorious UF Minister in the following words:-

50
‘So what if the bloody MP was his uncle. No one grieves when we die,
because everyone says we do it in the line of duty and none of us have any
uncles who are MPs’(P-87).
Akbar is so dutiful that even Shashlik Khan- the wine dealer fails to tempt
him by offering two wine khokhas, especially when he was arrested by Akbar
Khan:-
Akbar Khan:‘I told you, I’m not for sale, I’m not one of your pimps’& Do
you think this is a fish market where I will negotiate a price for you?
(P-167).
However, Major Rommel blames him that he has killed many men, and many
criminals(P-141).But Akbar replies that he has worked with everyone in the
line of duty and has made warm enemies against him and it is the lower staff
members in police who are crushed in the battle of the big shots and the barey
log. He prays that Allah should always keep them safe and sound from ‘United
Front haramkhores’.
Constantine also remembers the advice of his mentor Ch. Latif regarding the
pitfalls of duty in posh area.

51
‘ It is always better to be the SHO of a poor neighbourhood
rather than a rich one. In a poor mohallah, even if a hundred
people get killed on your watch, no one will be too bothered. In
a rich mohallah, if someone’s cat goes missing, they’ll hang
you by your balls’ (P-109).
However, it is Constantine who captures Ateeq Tension, the head of UF
terrorist-a trained cold-blooded killer in his locality and many others. It is this
Ateeq Tension, who because of Constantine terror, begged for his life,
promising to confess to all of his crimes’ (P-101).
Likewise, The IG-Dr Death also threatens the UF Minister while addressing
the Police Squad, ‘If I hear of a police officer’s body being found on the
road, I want the body of a ward boss lying on the exact same spot within
twenty four hours’ (P-88).
Another dubious and notorious politician is Nawaz Chandio –the brother of
the opposition leader Yousaf Chandio. He remained in exile for many years,
but remained in close contact with the anti-state forces and the underworld.
He has excellent contacts with the Russians and the Indians, who is trying to
build an underworld army. He has the courage to raid police station and

52
humiliate them because he aspires that his brother would become the next
Chief Minister.
He and his men manhandled several officers, including Maqsood Mahr in
search of Shashlik Khan, it is for the first time that Maqsood- corrupt officer
speaks up in favour of Police’ honour as he says to IG:-
“But my life is unimportant. What is more important is that those criminals
impugned the honour of the police….….An insult to me is an insult to
you(P-182)”.
During the meeting, IG informs the CM that he would definitely arrest his
brother for violation. But after few days of the arrest order, Akbar Khan
intercepts Nawaz Chandio’s squad and killed him in an encounter, thus ending
up another master mind of crimes.

53
CHAPTER-5
CONCLUSION
The writer has employed the literary technique and devices to weave a type of
crime thriller but it is certainly as convincing and enthralling a story as
anything from that type. The Prisoner undertakes the reader into a journey to
a moral universe which is both familiar and new with many shades of the
society.
Karachi has become a cramped city during the last decade, where zealots,
honey traps, gangsters, politicians, idealists, humanists and artists are using
violence to meet their cheap means.
There are many other citizens who are trying hard to survive and stay as
respectable citizens under the very loaming shadow of horror and death. There
many parts of the town and the streets where police and public cannot
penetrate, but these place must be made thoroughfare otherwise Karachi
would become a crime hub.

54
In short, Karachi has become a city of death, raging firing, bloody corners,
frequent strikes, land mafias and dirty politics making the lives of each and
everyone dark and gloomy.
At the same time, the police are considering their job as a license to kill
wherever they want by leading fake cases and encounters by interfering
people’s personal affairs and by breaking all barriers.
The Prisoner is a remarkable crime fiction, it depicts both socio-political
conflicts and heroic role of CID police. Akbar is considered to be the best
police officer in the Karachi CID police, who is valiant enough to shoot any
culprit on the spot regardless of his strong political background, but he also
sometimes operate beyond the legal restriction of law.
In spite of this vigilante approach, he is committed to fighting criminals and
maintains the writ of the police authority.
Sometimes he has to face conflicting dialogues with his seniors if they out of
law, support the political parties like UFP, mafia and ethnic groups. When he
was suspended, it became a celebration for such groups and that’s why they
wanted to see him shot-dead.

55
Constantine says about Akbar,
“So this was how the great Akbar Khan would come to his end. Not through
a Ward boss’s bullet but by the knife that his own officers had stuck in his
back.”
Moreover, external meddling in any of the government department, results in
the failure of police and other law enforcing departments and the futility of
the political leadership, which has already been observed for the last thirty
years making the foundation of the country hollow to its very core.
If we look into the crime history of Karachi we would come to know that
above 400 police officer have been shot just because they chased and crushed
the criminals and tried to break their hub. That’s why Constantine remarks:-
‘ It is always better to be the SHO of a poor neighbourhood
rather than a rich one. In a poor mohallah, even if a hundred
people get killed on your watch, no one will be too bothered. In
a rich mohallah, if someone’s cat goes missing, they’ll hang
you by your balls’ (P-109).
If police and their families are not secure how they can secure the general
public. It also shows how the fiction is resolutely deep-rooted in the realistic

56
and bloody life of Karachi and “The Prisoner” is a marvelous addition in the
international crime fiction genre and can easily be understood by a man in the
street.

57
RECOMMENDATIONS
The subject research is first of its kind keeping in view Pakistani crime fiction,
highlighting the drab world of criminals against the dutiful police officers.
The researcher has probed through the novel in order to bring forth the reality
of the troubled Karachi. It would be of great help for the future researchers to
probe into how the writers of crime fiction manipulate language and literary

58
WORKS CITED
1. L. Stephen, Humour and Humanity (Montreal: McGill Queens
University Press, 1988), 11
2. Encyclopedia Britannica, Volume 20, (USA: William Benten
publishers), 6
3. Abu-al-Ejaz, H. Sadeeqi, Akshaf Tanqeedi Istalahat (Islamabad:
Muqtadira Qaumi Zuban, 1985), 121
4. Abu-al-Kher Kashafi, Hamarey Ehad Ka Adab Oar Adeeb
(Qamar Kitab Ghar, 1971), 57
5. Shabi-ul-Hassan, Mafahim (Lahore: Izhar Sons, 1989), 6
6. Mehar I. Nadeem & Uz-Zama L. Khan, Compiler Khatoot-e-
RasheedAhmad Siddiquee, Vol: 7 (Multan: Multan Art Forum,
2006), 314
7. Scaggs John, Crime Fiction, ( Routledge, 2005)
8. http:www.english-literature.org
9. Dawn Book Review.

Thesis "The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid"

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Thesis "The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid"

Similar to Thesis "The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid" (17)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Thesis "The Prisoner by Omer Shahid Hamid"