Deen and his companions represent the despair, hopes and aspirations of a generation struggling to survive in the harsh realities of modern Dhaka.

Conflicts, trauma, memories of partition, terrorism, clash of cultures, closed Islamic societies and alienation, are the overriding themes of the novels from the three nations.

According to Pakistani writer and essayist Muneeza Shamsie, the first cohesive English novel in Pakistan was written by an expatriate, Zulfikar Ghose in 1967 titled 'The Murder of Aziz Khan'. It was a tragic tale of a Punjabi farmer during partition.

Since then, writers like Bapsi Sidhwa, Tariq Ali, Hanif Kuerishi and even Tehmina Durrani have carried Pakistani contemporary literature to the sub-continent - and the world.

Novelist Hartosh Singh Bal feels that 'since these are the crises spots in the sub-continent, they churn out interesting stories'.

For instance Nadeem Aslam, a Pakistani writer, explores the complexities of war and its aftershocks in his novel 'The Wasted Vigil'.

'It was a violent world,' says Aslam, who has been to Afghanistan several times.

Contemporary writers from Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Ali Sethi, are trying to reject the conservatism that has been imposed by a more Wahabi form of Islam in the recent decades.

'Almost all young writers from my region are questioning the socio-political realities, including war and terror,' he said.

Mohammed Hanif, a former Pakistan Air Force officer, probed the mystery surrounding the death of former Pakistan president Zia-ul Haq in his dark political satire 'Case of the Exploding Mangoes'.

Farmer-turned writer Daniyal Mueenuddin, meanwhile delves into the feudal upper class in Pakistan in his collection of eight short stories, 'In Other Rooms, Other Wonders', which is layered with political subtexts.

Mohsin Hamid's watershed novel, 'Moth's Smoke', is a tale of Lahore banker Darasikoh Shezad, who loses his job and takes to a life of crime and drugs.

'The world has become a smaller place and better connected. There are many more platforms, leading to more visibility - and the kind of literature coming out of Pakistan, Bangladesh and even Sri Lanka now is outstanding. After all, English binds the language because of our colonial past,' Diya Kar Hazra, editorial director of Penguin Books-India, told IANS, explaining the trend.

(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)