Tathagat Chaubey

Professor Gilles Vernier

DASA - POL 228
11th October 2019

Observing Cases Of Mangoes.

A Case Of Exploding Mangoes is “an alleged novel” by Mohammed Hanif published in 2008.
It touches on several things, but it focuses on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the
death of the decade old dictator, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. It approaches a topic
reserved mostly for investigative reporters, revenge-seeking offspring or loony conspiracy
theorists in a satirical, therefore, unorthodox fashion, at least for the Eastern world.

The story is spread out over 37 chapters and is divided into three parts. The first part is called
“Life is in Allah’s hands but…” followed by “Sentiment du fer” and “The Mango Party”. The
genre of the book is Historical fiction as Hanif speaks about recorded historical events, but
adds fiction to it with new characters and a list of alternate assassination theories. The list
consists of six possible culprits: Ali Shigri’s sword and the snake that poisoned it, the curse
carrying crow from the blind Zainab, mangoes from General Beg and the communist
Secretary General, Lavender air freshener from General Akhtar, the worms inside Zia and his
wife’s ill wishes.

Hanif talks about the events leading up to the “assasination” which inevitably starts a
conversation about the difference between God and Allah; the realities of (Pakistani) Army
life and the contradictory priorities (Hanif 51) of those involved in it. Hanif graduated from
the Pakistan Air Force academy like the book’s protagonist Ali Shigri. He offers an insight
into what it is actually like to be in the army as opposed to the “Islamic faith, Piety and Jihad
in the Path of Allah” image thrust forward by Zia’s popular military propaganda.

He implies that the Army is irredeemable and beyond saving. Shigri says that nobody who
can read a book can be a good officer (Hanif 204). The book he is talking about could be the
Quran. He says that prison can’t reform a ruined person, the Army, like Pakistan, is beyond
hope (Hanif 309). At the same time, Shigri shows us that soldiers are men of action unlike the
Secretary General who is “too well read to plotted anything” (Hanif 181).
Hanif seems to say that Zia was Allah. An Allah that was being forgotten and sidelined as he
was left “fattened, chubby-cheeked and marinating in his own paranoia” after a decade of
rule. An Allah that was flawed and very often needed to be reminded of his faith by Qadi and
his wife (Hanif 117). His worst fears were coming true when sunglassed General Beg slowly
pushed him out of power and the people stopped loving or hating him and started to become
indifferent to him, a fate signalling his decline foretold by Romanian President Ceaușescu.
An interesting contradiction to Zia’s fears would be the scene when he goes to the streets and
finds a police constable who punishes him by asking him to call General Zia a homosexual
(Hanif 282). This isn’t necessarily a show of disinterest or indifference, rather it shows that
he is actually still, if not hated, at least disliked by a large part of his population. Perhaps this
lack of passion is what bothers Zia.

His true decline, as shown by Hanif, started from the beginning of the book when his
paranoia had set in and General Zia had initiated a code red. In many ways, there was a
seventh culprit in General Zia’s assassination : General Zia himself and therefore, Allah.
Symbolically, it is the worms that signify his creeping paranoia of the insides of the Army
barracks itself and his mistrust of everyone, perhaps rightfully so. General Zia had a death
wish despite all his arrangements to stay alive. He handed power over to Akhtar and Beg,
refused to treat his worms, shirked political responsibilities by burrowing himself deeper into
the bosom of the Army, went against and lost faith in his own Islamic ideals and eventually
lost his grip on reality and was killed. Allah found someone else who would be hated more
than he would, General Beg, a more fitting ruler for Pakistan.

Another argument brought forward by Hanif is the contrasting tales told about army life by
the media and the realities of it. Shigri, when encountering a “civilian”, the General
Secretary, takes a lot of pride in being an Army man and coming from a “good family”
(Hanif 163). He shares the same dedication, enthusiasm and pride for his silent drills which
he has been practicing for three months and his performances display his deserved skill.
Where the contradiction lies is between the affirmations of the army being Islamic and pious,
and their actual indulgence in foreign literature and languages even when speaking about God
Allah (Hanif 44), their arbitrariness when it comes to handing out medals and stars, their
perception of manliness, the ever-present drills but lack of battles (Hanif 296), the sheer
absurdity of the Army life where masturbating to Readers Digest is a philosophical act (Hanif
53) and the difference between Shia or Sunni is the same as the difference between Coke or
Pepsi (Hanif 81). But most importantly, a flourishingly homosexual lifestyle.

Hanif’s writing is full of phallic puns and sexual innuendos. The title of the book itself tells
us that the story is about exploding testicles (Hanif 138). Nobody is spared from this erotic,
blasphemous, homosexual love. Not even General Zia, or the Manly Man Brigadier TM. TM
is evidently uncomfortable about the furniture change that General Zia has allowed. To him,
it is an intimate act made by his partner without his consent and he feels snubbed. This entire
scene reminded me of a lovers squabble where a partner tiptoes around the ego of the other.
This intimacy is evident through Hanif’s usage of words such as “caressed … with the touch
of his fingertips” when describing TM ‘s touch, General Zia’s description of TM's jump
betrays some sort of a romantic feeling. When Major Kiyani is interrogating Shigri about
Obaid’s disappearance, Shigri notes that “they are not interested in answers … [they are] only
interested in sex” (Hanif 100). When General Zia is examined by Prince Naif’s doctor, they
share an intimate, borderline romantic experience as well (Hanif 105). Shigri describes him
assassinating General Zia with his sword with phallic lingo about the tip of his sword being
“hungry” and “poisoned” (Hanif 331).

It is also interesting to note that Shigri who holds himself in such high regard as an army man
who comes from such a good family and whom everyone considers to be carrying on his
legendary father’s army legacy is neither heterosexual nor religious, as an ideal army man
should be. This is again a major contradiction and a subversion of themes that have been built
up until now.

When writing about history, satire is not looked at as an option very often. Yet, when it is
used as masterfully as Hanif has, one is certainly painted a vivid picture of events.
Comparing Hanif’s writing to the Dawn’s coverage and archives of the event, one would
automatically be drawn to A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Hanif’s background in the Air
Force program guarantees some form of on-ground authenticity that would be lacking in any
other form of coverage, be it news or official governmental reports. The dramatic flair and
Hanif’s portrayal of such sacred, untouched things in such a blasphemous light especially in a
country as hell-bent on censorship as Pakistan (Hanif 117) adds a sensationalism that makes
this book a must read.
Hanif also points out how language, high-class anglicised society has made itself home in
Pakistan. The language spoken throughout the book isn’t the language Jinnah wanted to be
spoken in Pakistan, it is rather the language he actually spoke.

At the same time, reading satire is not for everyone. Some may dismiss this writing as over
the top, attention-seeking and immature with its plethora of penis jokes, but very often the
absurd is the closest to the truth. That piece of wisdom doesn’t save the book from never
being classified as serious cannon to be considered. If someone were to want to genuinely
investigate General ZIa’s death, the Dawn or the government records would be their first
choice. Several issues brought up by Hanif would not be taken seriously. Several tropes
Hanif uses in his book seem to have been picked up from existing rumours and made into a
semi-reality. For example the torture chambers under the Lahore fort is a topic that even the
Pakistai Daily Times has brought up. In that sense, some of Hanif’s credibility is lost. In his
defence, he never vouched for it anyway.

Writing something like this is easy to do as with fiction, you need not worry about the hassles
of citing or being one hundred percent accurate with your writing. What one may need to
worry about after writing something like this is a threat to their life, though. The way Hanif
has written puts on display a very realistic lingo full of cuss words and the occasional pilot
jargon, American slang such as “greenback” all add a very authentic feel to the narrative.

In a lot of ways, this book shows the audience the contradictions between what the state of
Pakistan was set out to be and what it actually was like toward the end of the twentieth
century. It is up to us to make a judgement on whether this betrayal of the original idea is a
good thing or a bad thing for the betterment of the state, or perhaps, in a contradictory
fashion, it is neither and both.
Hanif, Mohammed. A Case of Exploding Mangoes. Vintage. 2008.

Qureshi Tania. “The dark side of Lahore Fort” Daily Times. October 14 2018.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/309992/the-dark-side-of-lahore-fort/

Ali, Naziha Syed. “Dawn investigations: Mystery still surrounds Gen Zia’s death, 30 years
on. Behind the crash of Pak-1 is a tale of power politics, deceit and betrayal.” Dawn. updated
12 March, 2019. https://www.dawn.com/news/1427540