Southasia Review of Books podcast #11: Sex, scandal and the death of a poet in 1970s Karachi

Himal Southasian Podcast Channel

In this episode, Shwetha Srikanthan, associate editor at Himal Southasian, speaks to the journalists Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan about their new book Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies, and Scandal (October 2024, Roli Books).

On one October morning in 1970, phones began ringing all over Karachi. The established poet and former civil servant Mustafa Zaidi had been found dead in his bedroom. He wasn’t alone: Shahnaz Gul, a socialite in her late twenties, who was Zaidi’s muse and lover, was lying unconscious in the next room.

What seemed like an apparent suicide turned into a scandal, ensnaring Shahnaz, and threatening to expose Karachi high society. The story grew to include obsession, revenge porn, the involvement of influential politicians and businessmen, smuggling and espionage, becoming a fixture on the front pages of newspapers even as the Subcontinent was going through major political upheaval.

But two autopsies, a series of investigations and a trial later, no one was able to answer what exactly happened.

Over fifty years later, authors Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan explore this question in their podcast, Notes on a Scandal, and in their new book, Society Girl. Their retelling of, and years-long investigation into this story led to a far more complex tale. It is ultimately not just about Mustafa and Shahnaz; but about the forces that existed during that time - the press, the elitist social structures, and the power dynamics in Pakistan – all just as potent today.