Jamil Ahmad–THE WANDERING FALCON
Posted in 9a-2011 Reviews, Exploration, Federally Administered Tribal Area, Historical, Literary, Short Stories, Social and Political Issues on Nov 10th, 2011
What an astonishing book! Completed in 1973 and packed away for almost forty years, the manuscript of The Wandering Falcon found a publisher only when the world’s attention suddenly focused on the virtually unknown tribal cultures living along the bloody border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. With great sensitivity, respect, and sympathy for his characters, seventy-nine-year-old author Jamil Ahmad has created a collection of unique, often interconnected, stories about vibrant individuals from the various tribes living in and near the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) of Pakistan. These nomads have followed the seasons and the needs of their animals and families for thousands of years, and they have no concept of national boundaries. The author, a powerful Pakistani official who lived and worked in the tribal lands from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s, believes that the people he came to know in the Swat Valley possessed a kind of honesty, openness, and lack of pretense which is absent from much of “civilized” society. He is the only person to have recorded details of their lives, making this an extremely important work.
