5. Gul Meena by Zaif Sayyed in Contemporary Perspective. زیف سید کے ناول گل مینہ، کا تنقیدی تجزیہ ;عصری تناظر میں

Author(s) : Dr. Azra Perveen

Abstract:

Literature is said to be the reflection of society whereas a story-teller is said to be the eyewitness of society. Even though a historian has, since the ancient times, been documenting the rise and fall of nations and political upheavals in true letter and spirit, but in the light of new critical discourse and consciousness of the present era, the witness of author or story-writer or a novelist has relatively more authenticity and certification in this respect that a novelist, as compared to the impassive description of a historian, delineates such a sensitive contemporary panorama in his tales, that it has diverse possible dimensions of life in it; moreover, a novelist, through his perception and insight, is able to discern the legendary pick of the lush-green valley of love even in case of hateful barren lands of warfare and cruelty whom the historian regards dead and inanimate; whereas a novelist deems the sprouts of love to be the most essential and basic cause of the creation of universe."Gul Meena", novel of Zaif Syed, is also the same sort of legend of love and infatuation of Zarjaan and Gul Meena, who belong to the tribal Pashtun regions. This is a tale of colonial imperialism, of the exploitative scams of foreign powers and of the desired interpretation of religion by native warring organizations, growing increasingly in tribal areas of Pakistan; rather it's an ultimate strife to sing a love-song in this frightful atmosphere. A contemporary proof of the incurable terrorism, prevalent in Pakistani tribal areas, this novel, " Gul Meena", even artistically proves the dexterity and alacrity of the tale-teller. This novel can surely be credited as an important addition to the tradition of Urdu novels based on the depiction of contemporary history. The article under discussion presents this core issue of the novel in the form of analysis.