(UTV|ISLAMABAD) – Award-winning Pakistani journalist and novelist Mohammed Hanif says copies of his best-selling satirical novel A Case of Exploding Mangoes have been seized.
The book, which was recently translated into Urdu, pokes fun at the country’s former military dictator, General Zia ul-Haq, and others in the armed forces.
It was first published in English over a decade ago to critical acclaim.
Hanif said security agents seized stock from his Karachi publishers and bookshops in Islamabad and Lahore.
Last month, the former BBC journalist received a defamation notice from Gen Zia’s son.
Who seized the books?
Men who identified themselves as agents from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) turned up at the offices of the Maktab-e-Danyalpublishing house on Monday, Hanif said.
“They claimed to be from the ISI but did not produce any official ID to prove that. They just took away all copies of the book,” he told BBC Urdu.
“They hurled threats at the manager of Maktab-e-Danyal, sought information about me and said they’ll come back to get lists of outlets to which the book has been supplied. It looks like they want to scare the few people who still want to read old books.”