aba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood-Khan’s Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies, and Scandal is arguably the first cohesive work of non-fiction from Pakistan based on a podcast. The authors hosted and produced a limited-series podcast titled Notes on a Scandal that examined the unusual events leading to the death of Urdu poet and former bureaucrat Mustafa Zaidi. For those who aren’t familiar with the intricate details of Zaidi’s murder, the podcast offers a glimpse into the peculiar high jinks associated with Karachi’s elite milieu in the 1970s. For others who vividly recall Pakistan’s first “jet-set murder,” Notes on a Scandal is an attempt to prevent a fragment of our social history from passing into public amnesia.

Scandals, though, are seldom forgotten. Zaidi’s demise and the ensuing trial remain etched in the memory of those who closely followed the news coverage on the matter. In October 1970, the charismatic poet was found dead in his bedroom. Shahnaz Gul, a married socialite, was lying unconscious in the adjoining room. She was later accused of murdering him and detained by the police. Amid a long, widely publicised trial, the beleaguered socialite became the victim of intense rumour-mongering. For months, the unusual circumstances surrounding the poet’s death pricked the conscience of a society with crushing conservative sensibilities. Even now, Zaidi’s death remains a divisive subject, attracting a heady mix of conjecture and doubt.

At first glance, the premise of Imtiaz and Masood-Khan’s collaborative literary endeavour is sufficient to capture the attention of readers. In the golden age of podcasting, few can deny the abiding popularity of true-crime content. A study published in 2023 by the Pew Research Centre reveals that a third of America’s podcast listeners are drawn towards this genre. Inspired by real-life criminal events, such podcasts examine the motivations of murderers and allow listeners the opportunity to solve a whodunnit.

Apart from that, the co-authors have chosen a catchy subtitle for their book — a dead giveaway that the book promises to be a candid exposé of the high-profile case. The image of Shahnaz Gul on the cover with an incomplete couplet by Zaidi suggests that the book aims to combine two versions of the same story.

However, Imtiaz and Masood-Khan operate within clear parameters and don’t fall into the trap of relentless theorising — a common trait among most true-crime podcast hosts. No attempt is made to provide readers with a definitive account of the circumstances surrounding Zaidi’s death. Imtiaz and Masood-Khan renounce the temptation to assume the role of self-appointed detectives who are preoccupied with the desire to find a convenient fall guy, if not a culprit. Instead, they paint a holistic portrait of the events preceding Zaidi’s death and the intricacies of the ensuing trial and vitriolic smear campaign against Shahnaz Gul. A descriptive account allows the text to appeal to a contemporary audience who may not be acquainted with the case. At the same time, this technique enables the authors to maintain a degree of detachment from the subject.

However, the co-authors only rely on objectivity to ensure that they don’t disproportionately focus on either Zaidi or Shahnaz Gul. Imtiaz and Masood-Khan don’t use it as a pretext to avoid forming judgments about the inherent nature of the key ‘characters’, even if it seems as though they are playing favourites.

The strength of Society Girl lies in its ability to situate the events occurring within the privacy of a bedroom in Karachi’s KDA Scheme I in the wider social and political context. Imtiaz and Masood-Khan skillfully evoke the unsettling realities of high-society life in Karachi of the 1970s — the setting of Zaidi’s doomed ‘romance’ with Shahnaz Gul. The text makes occasional references to fabled Samar Club at Metropole Hotel and various other haunts frequented by Karachi’s elite, including Sind Club and Karachi Gymkhana. Beyond the cloistered world of the city’s crème de la crème, the co-authors show how political events interfered with the lives of those who belonged to this privileged set. These events include Gen Yahya Khan’s list of 303 summarily dismissed bureaucrats, which included Zaidi’s name. Furthermore, the scandal surrounding the poet’s murder coincided with the East Pakistan imbroglio – a period that has been tangentially dealt with in Imtiaz and Masood-Khan’s book. In a nutshell, Society Girl makes a concerted effort to capture the mood of the times.

Be that as it may, the authors refrain from romanticising this period as a golden era. The benefit of hindsight helps them point out the many flaws and injustices of this period. They don’t shy away from criticising the complicity of the Urdu press in tarnishing Shahnaz Gul’s reputation. By running sensational headlines on the matter, the media created a toxic environment where rumours and unsubstantiated claims became the basis of reportage.

Imtiaz and Masood-Khan also reveal how the state’s reluctance to allow Zaidi to reunite with his family after his dismissal from public office contributed to his loneliness. This sense of isolation possibly fuelled his obsession with Shahnaz Gul and set off a chain of events that led to his tragic demise.

Society Girl emerges as an indictment of the misogynistic nature of institutional practices. For instance, the co-authors present a biting critique of the maltreatment of women prisoners in the criminal justice system. At one point, they draw attention to the bizarre techniques used to extract confessions from inmates, including palmistry.

Society Girl presents a no-holds-barred account. The co-authors don’t hesitate to highlight aspects of the case that are provocative, unconventionally bold and intensely private. Haunting details about Zaidi’s several suicide attempts indicate the extent of his psychological state. The narrative is also interspersed with Zaidi’s poetry, which opens a window into his complex psyche and serves as evidence of his deep infatuation with Shahnaz Gul.

A fluid, immaculately researched text, Society Girl opens the portal for a discussion about an interesting facet of our social history. The authors have interviewed people who are well-placed to comment on the matter and have even carefully scrutinised a myriad of police reports, court judgments and unpublished material. This has been done with the intention of understanding the case rather than determining the identity of the killer. The insights provided in this book, as well as its detailed bibliography, might encourage amateur sleuths to embark on the monumental task of solving the cold case.

Society Girl: A Tale of Sex, Lies and Scandal

Authors: Saba Imtiaz and Tooba Masood Khan

Publisher: Liberty Publishing, 2024

Pages: 332

Price: Rs 1,610

-The reviwer is a freelance journalist and the author of No Funeral for Nazia.

A refusal to mourn Faiz

A poem about Faiz Ahmad Faiz

By Khwaja Shahid Hosain

You have not left us. Martyr

And saint, warrior and misfit.

Rest in the salt-rimmed earth.

For us, the burden

Of living with your vision. Every metaphor

A lancet of reproach.

Blood-letting, purging, healing.

We cannot run from you. God-driven

Or harsh with secular energy

We are bound round with your hoop of words.

Always a beckoning; to

Pilgrimage, exile, or triumph, but always

A journey. When we falter,

Poet, maker of our true intent,

We need not mourn for you. Your poems

Will come at us in anger,

Snap, at our heels, harry and comfort us.

But will we find another

To live our purpose for us, leave us

The ease of dreaming without action?

And who will give us back the man who died?

Koo-i-janaan mein khula mairay lahoo ka parcham

Dekhiye daitay hain kis kis ko sada mairay baad.

The writer read at the memorial meeting at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, 23 November, 1984.