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- I am an Assistant Professor of English and Head Department of English, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Khyber... moreI am an Assistant Professor of English and Head Department of English, Khushal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. I did my PhD (English Literature) from Department of English, Islamia College Peshawar( A public sector university). My PhD thesis is on Contemporary Pakistani novel in English titled, "Fictional Rewriting of Pakistan's National Narrative: A Case Study of the Novels of Kamila Shamsie and Nadeem Aslam" . I am particularly interested in the aesthetics, poetics, and politics of South Asia. I have a vast teaching experience at both college and university levels. I taught English literature, language and TEFL at Edwardes College, Peshawar, National University of Modern Languages, University of Peshawar, Allama Iqbal Open University, and PAF Degree College Risalpur. I have published several articles, authored three books, and edited a series of books on English literature and language.edit
Living in an area that has long been a battlefield where various world powers have often been at loggerheads, Pashtuns have frequently drawn the attention of several works of fiction. Yet literary scholars have largely ignored the... more
Living in an area that has long been a battlefield where various world powers have often been at loggerheads, Pashtuns have frequently drawn the attention of several works of fiction. Yet literary scholars have largely ignored the importance of these works of fiction looking into the lives of Pashtuns. This paper proposes that from the times of the Cold War to those of the War on Terror, Pashtun identities have been clouded by the hegemonic discourses of the contesting global powers, leading to gaps and silences in their depiction in literature.This paper argues that the Pashtun images in contemporary Pakistani fiction in English exhibit strong influences of the dominating narratives; simultaneously, however, they seem to offer various patterns of subversion of the prevailing power narratives. Despite the fact that Pashtuns are generally regarded as the most subversive people of South Asia and that their lands have been regarded significant strategically as well as geographically, y...
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During the first half of the twentieth century, the socio-political scenario of South Asia in general and that of the Indian subcontinent in particular was marked by two distinct trends among the Muslim community: 1) Muslim nationalism... more
During the first half of the twentieth century, the socio-political scenario of South Asia in general and that of the Indian subcontinent in particular was marked by two distinct trends among the Muslim community: 1) Muslim nationalism and 2) composite nationalism commonly known as Indian nationalism. Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958) is commonly regarded as both a major ideologue and a frontline proponent of the composite nationalism. This paper attempts to explore Azad's significant role as a cosmopolitan communicator in the multiethnic and socially diverse South Asia. The paper reads some of the most important woks and addresses of Maulana Azad in light of broad notions of Martin Buber's dialogic ethics and Pearce and Cronen's cosmopolitan communication, arguing that Azad's social constructionist stance is the result of substantial elements of syncretism and eclecticism in his works. Keeping in view the prevailing religious fanaticism and socio-cultural intolerance in South Asia, the study of Azad's syncretic, eclectic, and anti-communal thoughts is need of the hour. It is aspired that Azad's dialogic and cosmopolitan communication patterns establish a counter discourse to tackle the ongoing ethnic and religious intolerance in South Asia.
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Sally Morgan’ s novel My Place explicitly portrays the resistance of Aborigines subalterns against the prevailing social, economic, cultural and political issues. Focusing on identity, hybridity, ethnicity, and racism, the paper argues... more
Sally Morgan’ s novel My Place explicitly portrays the resistance of Aborigines subalterns against the prevailing social, economic, cultural and political issues. Focusing on identity, hybridity, ethnicity, and racism, the paper argues how Aborigines undergo social injustice, racial distortion, class disparity and adversarial displacement by Neo-colonialism. Investigating the Aborigines’ academic endeavours, genealogical suppressive destitutions, groundbreaking reattachment, matrilineal links, it is hypothesized that My Place foregrounds the contemporary status of modern Aboriginal Woman. Illustrating the Aborigines’ altruistic patriotism and excruciating their sufferings during Neo-colonialism in the novel, it is spotlighted how lost generation and stolen generation and extortive afflictions imposed on the Aborigines by the Whites in Australia have shaped the formers’ collective socio-cultural and political consciousness.
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Pakistan has frequently been viewed as a stronghold of Islamic radicals, often overlooking the fact that various trends of both dormant and obvious conflicts exist between the politics of religion and region. Whereas the former is mainly... more
Pakistan has frequently been viewed as a stronghold of Islamic radicals, often overlooking the fact that various trends of both dormant and obvious conflicts exist between the politics of religion and region. Whereas the former is mainly controlled by the state, the latter is generally influenced by language and ethnicity. The state’s monolithic notion of national identity, from the country’s birth in 1947 to the present, has overshadowed the regional identities mainly the Pashtuns, Baluchis, and Sindhis, and disregarded the minority credos such as Shias, Parsis, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Christians. The present article aims to explore how contemporary Pakistani fiction in English spotlights images of a fragmented national self, underlining plights of the aforementioned marginal groups and exhibiting strong resistance to hidebound national identity. Reviewing contemporary Pakistani fiction in English with a particular focus on the fiction of Bapsi Sidhwa, Sara Suleri, Kamila Shamsie, Nad...
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Taking Bhabha's concept of hybridity as an analytical tool, the present study aims to explore the process and problems of diasporic identity, its process, and problems through the protagonists' diasporic experiences in... more
Taking Bhabha's concept of hybridity as an analytical tool, the present study aims to explore the process and problems of diasporic identity, its process, and problems through the protagonists' diasporic experiences in Chimamanda's Americanah through inductive approach by using textual analysis. The newness and attractiveness of a host land and the rootedness of a homeland problematize life for Ifemelu, the protagonist. She struggles hard to cope with the diasporic situation; however, the dominant narrative of identity and belonging of a host country does not assimilate her who live in an "in-between" space. As a result, she is torn between two cultures without any stable base for her genuine identity and is in continuous struggle for constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing her genuine identity.
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This paper hypothesizes that both the colonialist and state historiographies of South Asian societies have tended to foreground the issues of the elites and have marginalised those of the subalterns. South Asian post-colonial fiction on... more
This paper hypothesizes that both the colonialist and state historiographies of South Asian societies have tended to foreground the issues of the elites and have marginalised those of the subalterns. South Asian post-colonial fiction on the contrary rehierarchizes this centre-margin order by giving a central place to the lives of the laymen. In line with the South Asian fiction in general, Pakistani novel in English (henceforth called PNE) has largely been marked by an attempt to rewrite the official elitist discourse. The paper contends that PNE since partition has displayed a strong tendency to subvert the elitist discourse by representing and centralizing an alternative discourse from the viewpoint of the subalterns. Surveying how and to what extent the select Pakistani novels in English attempt to rewrite Pakistan's official elitist narrative, the paper explores that through their representations of the Pakistani marginalised classes (women, children, minorities, working class, and peasantry etc.), PNE is regarded as progressive and revolutionary.
Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as... more
Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as an aggressive tool to subdue the voices of the common. In the recent political history of the subcontinent, the aforementioned political role of religion can hardly been overemphasized. Made on the rhetoric of Islam, Pakistan has frequently identified herself as Islam ka Qilla (fortress of Islam) since the very inception till date. Such a monolithic approach of religion has substantially shaped the individual and collective socio-political consciousness of people in Pakistan. Driving the country’s contemporary sensitivities, the politics of religion pivots Pakistani society. The contemporary English fiction in Pakistan largely represents the cultural issues, deeply rooted in religion. Tehmina Durrani, one of the most acclaimed Pakistani novelists, ...
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Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as... more
Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as an aggressive tool to subdue the voices of the common. In the recent political history of the subcontinent, the aforementioned political role of religion can hardly been overemphasized. Made on the rhetoric of Islam, Pakistan has frequently identified herself as Islam ka Qilla (fortress of Islam) since the very inception till date. Such a monolithic approach of religion has substantially shaped the individual and collective socio-political consciousness of people in Pakistan. Driving the country’s contemporary sensitivities, the politics of religion pivots Pakistani society. The contemporary English fiction in Pakistan largely represents the cultural issues, deeply rooted in religion. Tehmina Durrani, one of the most acclaimed Pakistani novelists, ...
Research Interests:
Taking Bhabha's concept of hybridity as an analytical tool, the present study aims to explore the process and problems of diasporic identity, its process, and problems through the protagonists' diasporic experiences in Chimamanda's... more
Taking Bhabha's concept of hybridity as an analytical tool, the present study aims to explore the process and problems of diasporic identity, its process, and problems through the protagonists' diasporic experiences in Chimamanda's Americanah through inductive approach by using textual analysis. The newness and attractiveness of a host land and the rootedness of a homeland problematize life for Ifemelu, the protagonist. She struggles hard to cope with the diasporic situation; however, the dominant narrative of identity and belonging of a host country does not assimilate her who live in an "in-between" space. As a result, she is torn between two cultures without any stable base for her genuine identity and is in continuous struggle for constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing her genuine identity.
Pakistan has frequently been viewed as a stronghold of Islamic radicals, often being overlooked that various trends of both dormant and obvious conflicts exist between the politics of religion and region. Whereas the former is mainly... more
Pakistan has frequently been viewed as a stronghold of Islamic radicals, often being overlooked that various trends of both dormant and obvious conflicts exist between the politics of religion and region. Whereas the former is mainly controlled by the state, the latter is generally influenced by language and ethnicity. The state's monolithic notion of national identity, from the country's birth in 1947 to the present, has overshadowed the regional identities mainly the Pashtuns, Baluchis, and Sindhis, and disregarded the minority credos such as Shias, Parsis, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians. This article aims to overview how contemporary Pakistani fiction in English spotlights images of a fragmented national-self, underlining plights of the aforementioned marginalised groups exhibiting a strong resistance to hidebound national identity. Reviewing the selected fiction of Bapsi Sidhwa, Sara Suleri, Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Bina Shah, and Jamil Ahmad, this paper attempts to foreground the socio-cultural and political valuation of the regional identities.
Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as... more
Generally regarded as one of the most influential factors in the human history, religion has frequently been used as a strong political force by the ruling pundits. In the hands of retrogressive elites, religion has often been operated as an aggressive tool to subdue the voices of the common. In the recent political history of the subcontinent, the aforementioned political role of religion can hardly been overemphasized. Made on the rhetoric of Islam, Pakistan has frequently identified herself as Islam ka Qilla (fortress of Islam) since the very inception till date. Such a monolithic approach of religion has substantially shaped the individual and collective socio-political consciousness of people in Pakistan. Driving the country's contemporary sensitivities, the politics of religion pivots Pakistani society. The contemporary English fiction in Pakistan largely represents the cultural issues, deeply rooted in religion. Tehmina Durrani, one of the most acclaimed Pakistani novelists, frequently writes about the religiosity and the status of women in Pakistan. Setting against this socio-political preference of religion in Pakistani society, it is proposed that Tehmina Durrani's Blasphemy can be read as a critique of the retrogressive roles of clergy and aristocracy in Pakistan. Highlighting Pakistan's patriarchal and religious society, it is contended that Blasphemy is a realistic representation of the wretched conditions of women. Investigating the politics of religion in Pakistan's rural setting, the paper foregrounds Tehmina's bold stance on issues of women in the harsh social conditions caused by the nexus of retrogressive clergy and oppressive feudal aristocracy.
Terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in September 2001 have spawned myriad discourses in various disciplines over the past eighteen years.
Rukhsana Ahmad's short story "The Gatekeeper's Wife" maps the plight of a western woman, Annette, who is married to a wealthy man in Lahore. Despite living in an affluent and luxurious environment, she finds herself alienated and... more
Rukhsana Ahmad's short story "The Gatekeeper's Wife" maps the plight of a western woman, Annette, who is married to a wealthy man in Lahore. Despite living in an affluent and luxurious environment, she finds herself alienated and secluded. To escape the burthen of her lonely life, she keeps herself busy with animals at the zoo. To her utter bewilderment, one day she finds a woman stealing meat from the cage of a wild cheetah. For all its seemingly mysterious nature of the subsequent episode, the story invokes Annette's existentialist sojourn into the unfathomable South Asian mystique. This paper explores that Annette gets awareness of her own existence in the time of her own inner emotional strain and anxiety. The paper analysis existentialist impacts on the story from the views of two major exponents of existentialism; Soren Kierkegaard (1813-55) and Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
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Written in the wake of the eventful years of the All India Progressive Writers' Movement and Association during the late 1930s, Ahmad Ali's Twilight in Delhi has generally been regarded as a Delhi Saga. Despite being labeled by the... more
Written in the wake of the eventful years of the All India Progressive Writers' Movement and Association during the late 1930s, Ahmad Ali's Twilight in Delhi has generally been regarded as a Delhi Saga. Despite being labeled by the English publisher as a 'subversive' work of an Indian writer, the novel has hardly been explored from the aforementioned pigeonholing. Scholars have mainly examined the novel by exploring the recurring themes of nostalgia and loss looking from purely Eastern romantic perspectives influenced by Persian and Urdu literary traditions. This paper attempts to fill a major lacuna in the studies so far undertaken on this novel. Twilight is marked as a debut which spawned the progressive and subversive literature in South Asia. Taking the city of Delhi as a metaphor of socio-cultural resistance against the Farangis and their Raj, the paper will explore that the overwhelming nostalgia and the great sense of loss are subversive in their nature. Also the novel's emphasis on the past glories of the Indo-Muslim civilization bears in itself a deeper meaning of resistance against the British occupation.
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Stuart Hall"s theory of cultural studies proposes that mass media maintains the ideology of the dominant class in a society. Grounding its argument on Hall"s cultural studies, the paper explores resistance of the Occupy Movement against... more
Stuart Hall"s theory of cultural studies proposes that mass media maintains the ideology of the dominant class in a society. Grounding its argument on Hall"s cultural studies, the paper explores resistance of the Occupy Movement against the hegemonic and dominant discourse mainly operated by the controlled media. It is also explored how and to what extent the Occupy Movement is successful in achieving its main goals; occupying the mainstream discourse, blocking repression of the movement by protecting the write to speak, and by ending the corporate personhood.
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Contemporary Pakistani novel in English has shown a marked shift in its concern since the end of the Cold War. With a predominant focus on history and politics through the prism of the Cold War, it deals with the predicament of laymen in... more
Contemporary Pakistani novel in English has shown a marked shift in its concern since the end of the Cold War. With a predominant focus on history and politics through the prism of the Cold War, it deals with the predicament of laymen in Pakistan. Standing tall in this particular line of Pakistani novelists, Nadeem Aslam concerns himself primarily with the calamities confronted by a wretched people and their land devastated by the global disputes during the Cold War and the War on Terror. This paper explores Aslam’s focus on the political and socio-cultural consequences of the Cold War on Pakistani society. It explores how the broad historical trilogy of change, continuity and conflict negotiates in his"Season of the Rainbirds". The novel debuts Aslam’s depiction of the thematic trilogy expanded in his later work. Contending that the impact of the Cold War on people and society in Pakistan has often been disregarded in the state narrative, this paper explores how Aslam reimagines these predicaments in "Season".