The Booker-nominated writer tackles themes of equality, migration, and belonging that, he warns, should now be worrying us more than ever beforeMohsin Hamid is depressed. The novelist, twice nominated for the Man Booker prize, has seen the three places he calls home - Pakistan, America and Europe - betray their fundamental ideals and become increasingly unwelcoming.In Pakistan, where he was born, the elected government caved in to a mob of extremist protesters by sacking a minister they accused, essentially, of being a bad Muslim. In a country created as a homeland for south Asia´s Muslims, the fight over who fits that bill means hardly anyone is safe from unfounded accusations of blasphemy. Students have been lynched arbitrarily and, in 2011, the governor, Salman Taseer, was shot for criticising the blasphemy laws. To Hamid, the stunning capitulation to the mob signals the breakdown of an uneasy coexistence between the government, the military and the courts, allowing `raw power` to rule.Pakistan is a model for the kind of things that occur when the idea of purity is made predominant in your society Continue reading...
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