1963 Not The Whole Truth Hardcover by Justice MR Kayani Lahore Pakistan RARE!
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Not The Whole Truth
by Justice M.R. Kayani
Illustrated by Masarrat Shaukat Ali
Published by The Pakistan Writers Co-Operative Society, Lahore, Pakistan (1963)
Condition:
Excellent 2nd Edition Hardcover Book! The binding is tight and all 211 pages within are bright white with NO writing, underlining, high-lighting, rips, tears, bends, or folds although there is some foxing on the pages throughout especially on the inside front and back covers (shown). The covers look excellent with some wear and remnants of a price label(?) on the front cover, as can be seen in my photos. You will be happy with this one! Always handled carefully and packaged securely! Buy with confidence from a seller who takes the time to show you the details and not use just stock photos. Please check out all my pictures and email with any questions! Thanks for looking!
An Interesting article on MR Kayani:
Literary Notes: Justice Kayani revealed half truths, but could laugh at whole ones
by Rauf Parekh
AN interesting incident that Justice M. R. Kayani in his Afkaar-i-pareeshaan has narrated reads: “Immediately after the creation of Pakistan a rebellious poet composed some sorrowful couplets. Among them was:
I was government’s adviser on legal issues in those days. The collection of poetry was sent to me and I was asked to tell under which section of law the poet could be prosecuted. I said, ‘Folks, he only says that do not look at me. Look at Pakistan. Is it the same country carved out by Quaid-i-Azam? But still if you want to look at him, please do’.”
This was, perhaps, one of such mutterings by Justice Kayani that perturbed those in power. Earlier, Kayani was a member of the elitist Indian Civil Service, but was transferred to Judicial Services for reasons not precisely described. One can safely assume that it must have been his boldness and sense of humour that angered his seniors. As pointed out by Iftikhar Ahmed Khan in his foreword to Kayani’s book Not the whole truth, Kayani’s modesty and humbleness made him unpopular among those who mattered.
Iftikhar Ahmed Khan wrote: “In fact he [Justice Kayani] was an exception to all the accepted norms of bourgeois conduct. When he entered the Indian Civil Service, his unorthodox views and unconventional conduct often made his superiors feel uncomfortable. Having failed to curb his irrepressible zest for life through ordinary correctives, they decided on the extreme measure switching him over to the judiciary” (page ii).
But the monotony and solemnity of the court room failed to dampen Kayani’s spirits and he handed down some verdicts that caused many heckles to raise. As Iftikhar Ahmed Khan added “In the administration of justice where originality is confined to interpretation of statutes, he introduced a disturbing element through his bold directives. Since humour was for him the spice of life he delighted in poking fun at the prosecution and defence alike and giving lively twist to the otherwise drab proceedings of a court room. He annoyed one of his superiors with his rambling style and apparently irrelevant but pointed observation to such an extent that while reviewing his judicial work, he was constrained to remark ‘writes very bad judgements, tries to be funny and is often ridiculous’ “ (page ii).
Malik Muhammad Rustam Khan Kayani was born in Shahpur, district of Kohat, on Oct 18, 1902. From Government College, Lahore, he did his graduation with Persian and MA in English. He was selected for Indian Civil Service in 1927 and was sent for two-year training to Trinity College, Cambridge. Having served in executive capacity for about eight years, Kayani was transferred to judicial service and worked as district and sessions judge. In 1947, he was appointed secretary law, Punjab. In 1949, he was appointed to the bench of Punjab High Court and in April 1958 as chief justice of the West Pakistan High Court.
Kayani’s literary career began by writing brief memoirs of his early career and speeches for the guidance of new entrants to the civil service. His Urdu and English speeches, philosophising several aspects of life and peppered with witty remarks, became enormously popular and was often invited to speak on different occasions.
It is often said that due to his boldness and dislike for Pakistan’s military ruler Muhammad Ayub Khan, Justice Kayani was not in the regime’s good books and that, due to the same reason, Kayani was denied a coveted post at the Supreme Court. But Ayub Khan, the then president of Pakistan, had written the foreword to Kayani’s book Not the whole truth, or at least it was signed by him, though it might have been penned by a bureaucrat like Altaf Gauher. The foreword by the president said that “In our judicial system, the function of the judge is to search for the truth, while the duty of telling ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but truth’ is assigned to the rest of the world”.
Some might have taken these words as a covert warning to refrain from ‘telling the whole truth’. Looking at Kayani’s Urdu and English writings, one does find truth told but not in an uncouth manner, though he did not refrain from lightly touching the political issues with a satirical tone. For example, in his Afkaar-i-pareeshaan he alluded to martial law in a symbolic way: “when they [‘ashaab-i-kahaf’ or the seven sleepers of Ephesus hiding in a cave] open their eyes it is a new world, which means martial law is here. Their beautiful eyes create such circumstances that both genies and angels, I mean both the bad and the good, stop flying and the difference between day and night ceases to exist, that is, only the night remains and the heart, the mind, the constitution and law, everything is held in abeyance, after every five years and five months ... if I am wrong in counting the time period, it is not my fault but it is the fault of the month of Ramadan which is of 28 days or sometimes of 29 days. It is just a rumour that once it used to be of 30 days but now the 30th day is usually hidden behind the clouds”.
Kayani’s style is highly literary and full of allusions. Literary references and parts of rhetorical speech abound. It was perhaps a way of concealing what he really wanted to say and avoid the persecution. His other books are Half truths, A judge may laugh and Letters by Justice Kayani.
Justice M. R. Kayani died on Nov 15, 1966, in Chittagong, where he had gone to deliver a speech. He was buried in his hometown near Kohat.
About author, M.R. Kayani:
Malik Muhammad Rustam Kayani also known as M. R. Kayani or Justice Kayani, was a distinguished Pakistani jurist who served as Chief Justice of West Pakistan from 1958 to 1962. He is noted for his opposition to the dictatorship of General Ayub Khan.
He hails from the village Shahpur located near Kohat, Pakistan. He was born on 18 October 1902 to an ethnic Pashtun family in the home of Khan Bahadur Abdul Samad Khan Kayani. He passed the matriculation examination from Islamia High School Kohat and did his F.A. from Edwards college Peshawar. He earned his master's degree in English from Government College Lahore.
He started his career in civil service in Punjab, British India in 1927, and after having served for eight years on the executive side, he was transferred to the judiciary in 1938. He rose to become a judge of the Punjab High Court in 1949 and then the chief justice of the West Pakistan High Court in 1958. In 1956, he was elected president of the West Pakistan Branch of the CSP Association. In that capacity he strove to uphold the status of the Civil service of Pakistan. He was also the member of the famous Punjab Disturbances Court of Inquiry.
As a judge and then chief justice, his speeches at various forums were widely covered by the national press because of the rare combination of intellect, wit, courage and integrity he personified. His characteristic brand of humour and caustic, witty remarks did not spare even presidents. The most popular speaker of the country in the last four years of his life, a collection of his speeches have appeared in the form of various books like The Whole Truth, Not the Whole Truth, Half Truth, A Judge May Laugh and Afkar-e-Pareeshan.
Kayani retired in October 1962. He was not elevated to the Supreme Court of Pakistan because of his open criticism of the military regime. The citizens of Lahore arranged a farewell reception in his honor in which he was named as Lisan-e-Pakistan (the voice of Pakistan). In his reply, Kayani said that this title was dearer to him than Nishan-e-Pakistan. Then he went on to say that his purpose in delivering such satirical speeches was to keep the morale of the people high in a period of gloom and darkness. He made the people laugh in order to release their tension.
In one of his more memorable comments he wrote:
"There are quite a few thousand men who would rather have the freedom of speech than a new suit of clothes and it is these that form a nation, not the office hunters, the licenses even the tillers of the soil and drawers of the water."
One major Pakistani English newspaper comments about him, "Mr. Kayani was gifted with a keen sense of humour. He was satirical without being sarcastic, humorous without being offensive. Frail, lean and thin, he was very gentle and genial in conversation, yet firm and unshakable in conviction."
In November 1962 he embarked upon a visit to East Pakistan where he was invited by the Bar Associations of Dhaka, Rajshahi and Chittagong. He died on 15 November 1962 in Chittagong Circuit House. His half-written speech was lying on the table beside his bed. The collections of his English and Urdu speeches entitled Not the Whole Truth, Some More Truth and Afkar-e-Pareeshan appeared posthumously.
One of the six boarding hostels at the Cadet College, Kohat is named in his honour.
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