Abdul Bari Alig 

Abdul Bari Alig(1906-1949) was a well known  author, historian and critic. Bari was born in Amritsar and was educated at Aligarh Muslim University. His books Company Ki Hukumat, Tarikh e Islam and Ijtamiyat e Aalam were widely known in India.

During his early days Saadat Hasan Manto met Abdul Bari Alig, who soon changed the young man’s imaginary dabbling with genuine interest in politics and enthusiasm for movie stars which was available in India in English and Urdu translation.

Bari encouraged Manto to attempt a translation of Hugo’s The Last Days of Condemned, a drama into Urdu. Manto completed the translation in about two weeks and sold it to the Urdu BookStall, Lahore, which published it under the title Sarguzasht-e-Aseer. Having now become a published author, Manto aided by Hasan Abbas soon attempted a translation of Oscar Wilde’s Vera,which was published in 1934.