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Certainly, historically, there has been more attention given in the international media to Indian English-language writers than to Pakistani English-language writers. But that, in my opinion, was justified by the sheer number of excellent writers coming from India and the Indian diaspora.

I'm not a representative of Pakistan; I'm just an example that Pakistanis are different from each other. I believe it in my fiction and I believe it personally.

The Pakistani writers are addressing change and what's happening today in the world. There is something completely contemporary in this writing.

If you actually get down to the nitty-gritty of the average Pakistani, the average Indian, the average whoever, what you really do know emotionally is that they're exactly the same.

I used to object to being called an Indian writer, and would always say I was a writer who happened to be an Indian, and who happened to write about Indians.

Sadly, Indians are not very easily accepted in Pakistan, and that has a lot to do with the governments.

If you think of India in the 1980s, there weren't many writers in English around. The ones that were there, Amitav Ghosh or Vikram Seth, were living abroad or publishing from abroad.

I do think that the modern India does belong to writers who are living in India.

Pakistani politics is complicated, and I think it's not something a foreigner can easily assimilate and understand.

India lends itself well to fictionalization, but ultimately, it all depends on the writer's imagination.