I maintain that, even today, when there are more of us producing literature in English, the best literary talent in Pakistan is still manifested through our native languages — Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto and others. Barring some truly exceptional writers who have made a name for themselves nationally and internationally — Bapsi Sidhwa, Jamil Ahmed, Uzma Aslam Khan, Nadeem Aslam, Mohammed Hanif, Kamila Shamsie, H.M. Naqvi and Bina Shah — the bulk of our creative writing in English, until the recent past, gave an impression of being contrived, affected, borrowed and superficial.
Our writers find it easier to convey thoughts and ideas in their prose, but struggle when the feelings and emotions of narrators, subjects or protagonists are to be expressed. One also feels that the amount of serious non-fiction, essays and papers that we produce remains low.