India in The Pakistan Times, September 1950-February 1951

This article offers a glimpse of the representation of India in The Pakistan Times in 1950–51, in the last months of the first phase of its editorship by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. It contextualizes this reflection in a period of relative lull, marked by pacts on minorities and trade, within the post-Partition upheaval. Focusing especially on editorials, commentaries, and cartoons, it highlights the formation of views of the neighbor from the news that was being generated. The stress is on firstly, a variety of themes included–not just the “unfinished business of Partition”, secondly, a responsible review of these themes–not just a narrow-minded nationalist reading, and thirdly, an involved–if not intertwined–interpretation of both countries’ socio-economic relations, while not underplaying the differences of their regimes. Further, the article goes beyond an inter-governmental framework, as The Pakistan Times went beyond it and presents a slice of the possibilities then existing, of a progressive politics on questions of class, community, and capital. In early independent Pakistan, this was personified by Faiz and this article, while not on him nor on an extensive Saidian reflection of the “other”, tries to trace his imprint in the representation of India in the newspaper he edited and seeks to contribute to our understanding of India as constructed through Pakistani eyes.