Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies Available online at www.ajms.co.

in
Volume 2, Issue 3, March 2014
ISSN: 2321-8819

The Impure Woman

(Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

Arshad Masood Hashmi

Associate Professor in the Department of Urdu
Gopeshwar College
Hathwa, Gopalganj.841436

Abstract: Women are the hardest hit social group in Pakistan since last five decades. They are
being marginalized at the very least and actually victimized in a worst case scenario in the name
of Sharia laws. Over the ages women, along with other ethnic and religious groups, have been
subjected to treatment that has induced doubt, confusion, cynicism, and despair among such
abused groups.

Kishwar Naheed is one of the foremost non-conformist feminist poets and women
activists of Pakistan who actively participated in the agitations against state-dictated atrocities
targeting women, and she wrote extensively about the rigid constraints on women of a political
system imbued with farce religiosity and hypocrisy. While rejecting the all-male chauvinistic
social order, despite the strong religious convictions of her countrymen, she struggled to redefine
the status of women through her poetry. Her poetry has always been seen as a threat to the
patriarchal order. Women in her poems become their own liberators and they crave and strive to
break the rules and shed the shackles which imprison them; in her poems we see women
trespassing the boundaries of marginality, soaring both high and to horizons heretofore forbidden
them.

This paper examines and questions the validity of laws, be they Sharia laws or social
practices that dishonor women, and construes that both systems of justice marginalize and
imprison women in their web of authoritarianism. It demonstrates how Kishwar Naheed, in
writing poetry that consistently depicted woman as existing on the margins of their society,
participated in their social rebirth.

Keywords: Feminist Urdu Poetry, Kishwar Naheed, Modern Urdu Poetry, Feminist Poetry in Pakistan, Women
Poets of Pakistan, Sharia Laws, Hudood.

The available records and literature jurisprudence, give a religious sanction to laws that
provide overwhelming evidence of heinous serve to dishonor women. Women in Pakistan's
violence and abuses being practiced against women patriarchal society are thus deprived of the rights
in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which establish and respect and freedoms that Islam has always
the impression that Pakistan is not following bestowed upon women, these having been replaced
Islamic laws for women in conformity with the by traditional and social norms that put strict
teachings of Islam. The clerics and right-wing obstacles in the way of progress for women in
activists, who keep a strong hold over society and Pakistan, making their lives burdensome, limited,
the government through their conformist religious and often punitive.
orders in the name of Sharia laws, demonstrate no
interest in providing women the status (and Any society that denies women their due
opportunities) granted to them in the Holy Quran. rights under the Qur'an and behaves towards them
Women are thus being subjected to a punitive in such a blatantly undignified and blameworthy
patriarchal notion of Islamic jurisprudence, manner serves as an example of a traditional tribal
wherein they are deprived of any of the rights that a structure (Babur, 2007, p.20).The tribal system of
man enjoys - be him a cleric, a husband, a father, or retribution and the formal legal system of Pakistan,
a son. This notion is not Islamic in essence but is, both subject women to cruel treatment and
in fact, purely anti-Islamic, abysmally failing to judgments. The tradition of honour killings and the
adhere to the true teachings of the Book. The customary practices of baad (giving women as
translations and interpretations of the Quranic compensation to settle dispute) continue unabated
verses, the Quranic injunctions, and books like (Saima Jasam, n.d.). Besides the two parallel
Bihishti Zewar (Heavenly Ornaments) of Maulana judicial systems, the Federal Shariat Court and the
Ashraf Ali Thanwii, that deal with perfecting Shariat Appellate Bench, that are applicable to the
women, are perverted, and in the guise of Islamic entire country, the traditional jirga system of

6
The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

justice is actively practiced in Balochistan, NWFP, as well because it also demands authority of one
as well as districts of Sindh bordering with (male) on the other (female). These factors are also
Balochistan as to settle legal cases and disputes. accountable for social unrest and despondency and
Strongest allegation on the jirga system has been they manifested themselves in two different forms
about its discrimination against women folk during of male dominance and commodification on
the course of decisions and implementation on womens body and mind to such a measure that
variety of its rules and regulations. The sharply limit [ted] our ability to understand and
Participatory Development Initiatives of Pakistan interrogate the lives of women whose desire, affect,
observes that and will have been shaped by non-liberal
traditions (Mahmood, 2001, p. 203).
there might be many causes and reasons behind Discriminatory nature of certain laws that violate
the ever-increasing trend of violence against womens rights and violence against women in the
women in our society, including lack of awareness, family and society continued marginalizing
education etc., however, there is a common women. Sara Suleri observes that if a
perception held by the civil society that tribal postcolonial nation chooses to embark on an
jirgas are the main and basic causes of increase in official program of Islamization, the inevitable
the cases of violence against women including the result in a Muslim state will be [a] legislation that
cases of honour killing in Sindh provinceDespite curtails women's rights. (Suleri, 2000, p.1324).
abolition of Jirga system and official ban on
holding jirgas are frequently held in various parts Over the ages, women along with other ethnic
of Sindh by Sardars often under official patronage and religious groups were subjected to doubts,
and protocol. Jirgas in Sindh are usually held in the confusions, cynicism and despair. Women were the
government -owned circuit houses (PDI, 2005). hardest hit social group since the dreadful military
dictatorship of General Zia-ul Haque (19771988)
On the contrary, male chauvinists frequently as they were marginalized and victimized in the
assert that Islam has given more rights to women name of Sharia laws. But, interestingly, it was the
than has any other religion but even then women period that heralded the beginning of a nationwide
are being subjected to diverse forms of oppression, awakening among women along with the sprouting
violence and injustice in the name of religion, of different women bodies to voice their concerns
although the protective attitude of the Quran against the atrocities on them. The dictatorial rule
toward all downtrodden and oppressed classes of and the campaign of the fundamentalist extremist
people, appears to be weighted in many ways in politico-religious bodies to segregate women from
favor of women, many of its women-related education and politics, and promulgation of laws
teachings have been used in patriarchal Muslim on a patriarchal-authoritarian base to oppress
societies against, rather than for, women (Hassan, women gave rise to a vibrant movement for
February 25, 2000). The pseudo-religiosity and all- womens rights. There was a significant
consciously formulated ordinances do not speak organizational stride (Rouse, 1992, p. 103) that
only about religious oppressions; rather there is a culminated in a nationwide stir to challenge
certain mentality that is deeply ingrained in strictly authoritarianisms in all its manifestations, to
patriarchal societies like Pakistan (Jamal, April 9, demand equality and justice. It paved way for some
2012). Hina Jilani, lawyer and Human Rights substantial amendments in the notorious and
activist posits that the right of life of women in intrinsically misogynistic Offense of Zina
Pakistan is conditional on their obeying social (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979
norms and traditions which are deeply rooted and (Ordinance VII of 1979). This ordinance required a
have made the life of women miserable (Amnesty victim of rape to produce four credible, truthful and
International, 1999). pious male witnesses about whom the Court is
satisfied, having regard to the requirements of
Talbot argues that the abrupt termination of
tazkiyah al-shuhood [credibility of witnesses] to
historical narratives in 1947 has helped to
confess that they have seen the act of penetration,
obfuscate the continuities between the colonial and
failing which the victim was trialed and punished
contemporary eras (Talbot, 1999, p.12); therefore, for committing adultery or fornication.
the inheritances of the colonial era still play an
important role in its social structure. This nuclear Women were also victimized under the
state couldnt develop standards of political Offence of Qazf Ordinance 1979 (that applies to a
accountability neither it could evolve a civil society complainant who makes an accusation of zina
that would be recognizably committed to pluralism [fornication/adultery/ extramarital sex] against
and equity (Shaikh, 2000, p. 326), however, this another person in a Court, but fails to produce four
nation with the culture of political intolerance witnesses in support thereof before the Court, and
could develop and foster a system to abuse women when the complainant is found to have made a false
in the name of religion. The legacy of the pre- accusation of zina-bil-jabr [rape]). It was openly
independence tradition of vice-regalism and alleged and widely believed that the Pakistani
persistence of authoritarianism in Pakistani politics police proved to be disappointingly criminal in
(Talbot, 1999) paved way for religious orthodoxy practice, by refusing to register cases under Zina

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(3) March, 2014 7

The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

bil-Jabr i.e. rape, and recording it instead as a case liberty, whether occurring in public or in private
of Zina i.e. adultery (Aslam, 2003; Amnesty life (UN General Assembly, 20 December 1993).
International, 1999; Jahangir; Quraishi 1997).
Promulgated in the name of Islam, the Zina 1. These include cases of aas-aaf custom (10) in
Ordinance remained a tool of oppression for almost which women accused of bringing shame to the
twenty-five years. President Musharrafs gift to the family take an oath of innocence on the Holy
women of Pakistan in the form of the Protection of Quran and then walk on burning coals spread over
Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Act, 2006 six metres, abduction and torture after abduction
did not repeal Hudood Ordinance rather it was (577), acid attacks (20), burning by throwing
hollowed out to its barest essentials, remarks kerosene oil and petrol (17), kaala kaali [kara kari/
Martin Lau concluding his analysis of this Act, it summary killing] (25), assault after divorce (45),
cannot be dismissed as a mere window dressing to assault by in-laws (100), honour killings (112),
satisfy a Western audience (Lau, 2007, p. 1314). murder and assault for contracting a marriage with
their free will (114), murder (162), victims of
Asma Jahangir, the United Nations Special panchayat decisions where women were either sold
Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief and or killed (37), rape (304), assault by police (20),
well-known human rights and women's rights suicide in reaction to family pressure, rape or other
activist, remarked that sentences of stoning and forms of violence (444), torture leading to physical
amputation are still possible under the Act and that or mental disability (489), wani [child marriage]
Pakistan had "a long way to go" with regards to (37), watta satta [exchanging brides between two
women's rights (Immigration and Refugee Board of families] (25) and cases of gender discrimination
Canada, 2007). These amendments are not a and disinheritance (175) (Jafri, November 3, 2012).
substitute for the repeal of the Hudood
Ordinances, emphasizes Supreme Court lawyer In its annual report, the Human Rights
and General Secretary of the independent Human Commission of Pakistan said at least 943 women
Rights Commission of Pakistan, Iqbal Haider, were killed in 2011 for damaging their family
however, this is a positive step, although much name. The number marks an increase of more than
needs to be done (Sarwar, 2006). The whole 100 from 2010 (Crilly, 20 Dec 2011). Pakistan has
system of law making and law enforcement appears become third most dangerous country for women in
like the cop of Andrienne Richs poem Rape. the world wherein more than 1, 000 women and
girls are murdered in honour-killing every year,
One women's rights group in Pakistan says the and besides that, 90 percent of Pakistani women
number of incidents of violence against women in suffer from domestic violence and abuse at the
Pakistan has increased at least seven percent over hands of the male perpetrators, family members,
the past year, and the impact of violent gender society and state agents (Jamal April 9, 2012).
discrimination is being deeply felt in a number of These violence include sexual assault at work
ways (Behn, 2012). Shahnaz Khans (2011) The places, educational institutions, hospitals; rape,
Butterflys Cage is a shocking example of the spousal murder, beating, acid throwing, custodial
society that marginalized its women to such an torture, honor-killings, etc. Even educated women
extent that lives of millions of women in Pakistan of elite and upper middle classes appear not to have
got circumscribed by traditions which enforce dispensed with internalized customs and traditions
extreme seclusion and submission to men, many of which directly deprive them of dignity and often of
whom impose their virtually proprietorial control life itself. Farida Shaheed, sociolinguist and
over women with violence (Amnesty International, woman activist, believes that in addition to the
1998). It is worth mentioning that 2,713 cases of traditional patriarchal [feudal/tribal] structures and
violence against women were reported only in systems, women are facing a new surge of
Southern Punjab from January 2012 to October conservative thinking that permeates ever-larger
2012. (1) While out of 4,585 'reported' cases of swathes of society, cutting across class and other
violence against women in Pakistan during the first divides (UNRISD, March 6, 2012). It is rightly
half of this year, about 1,027 incidents happened in asserted that the word woman in Pakistan is
Sindh (Dawn, October 23, 2012). The first bi- synonymous with endurance because the whole
annual report (January-June, 2012) of Aurat society has mantled the robe of a guardian and it
Foundation reveals that despite extensive efforts to acts as an oppressor, browbeating women into
control honour-killing incidents, 436 such cases obedience. A woman in Pakistan is simply forced
were reported besides 435 rape and gang rape cases to accept certain bare facts of life once she grows
(Imran, October 23, 2012).Article 1, 1993 of the up to be a woman. Be it on streets, or for that
UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence matter in restaurants, a woman is first and foremost
against Women describes the term violence against required to be alert (Bhatti). Right from severe
women as any act of gender-based violence that repercussions of the Hudood Ordinance to the
results in, or is socially structured gender apartheid, there is a
likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological never-ending phenomenon of marginalizing
harm or suffering to women, including threats of women in the name of cultural relativism,
such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of tolerance, anti-racism, diversity, or political

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(3) March, 2014 8

The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

correctness (Chesler, 2010). On the basis of the force restrictions, abuses and sexual violence onto
investigations of the pervasive problem of violence women as they receive full protection from the law,
against women in Pakistans two largest cities, police, and courts. The society has made women
Karachi and Lahore, Human Rights Watch (1999) believe that they would have done something to
observed that despite the severity of the problem, deserve the crime that has been committed on
the government's response has been indifferent at them.
best; it has served to exacerbate the suffering of
women victims of violence and to obstruct the Naheeds poetry has always been seen as a
course of justice. threat to the patriarchal order as the women in her
poems become their own liberators and they crave
True, violence against women is a global issue and strive to break the rules and shackles imposed
and every society is permeated by the continued upon them by men, to break the boundaries of
occurrences and reactions to instances of rape and marginality, they want to cross over, to soar high in
sexual assault on women. But while a gang rape on the horizons where they have always been
a bus in India sparks a global furor and a rape in forbidden to roam. She has been described as the
Steubenville, Ohio sparks a similar wave of only Pakistani feminist who poses a serious threat
repudiation (Michelman and Tracy, January 22, to men through her work, her lifestyle, her manner
2013), the plight of such victims in Pakistan is, by and through ceaseless verbal challenge (Ahmad,
and large, confined to formulate articles in the pp. 20-21). The dominant thought that exists in her
press, slow-moving cases in the courts, and poetry is a strong desire to break away from the
frequent dropped charges due to bribes, threats of social construct which she was brought up with to
further violence and family pressure on the victim challenge the authoritarian attitude of state and
to avoid further shame (Haque, December 31, society to control womans body and sexuality. She
2012). However, used poetry at critical historical moments to discuss
intimate issues of self, emotions, and sexuality that
the blaming, shaming, and judgment directed could not, in their socio-historical contexts, be
toward the victims of these horrific crimes remains otherwise expressed (Anantharam, 2009, p.209).
a key component of the dialogue surrounding even These were the aspects about which a woman was
these high-profile instances of sexual assault. not supposed to express her opinions. She is among
While the sheer volume of sexual assault and rape those handful of Pakistani women who, amidst the
speaks to the prevalence of violent and negative political turmoil and social discrimination, revolted
attitudes towards women, the victim-blaming and against the religious orthodoxy, countrys laws and
judgment that occurs paints an even more the societal norms that kept on victimizing and
disturbing picture revealing how subversive and marginalizing women.
long-lasting these negative perspectives of women
are. (Michelman and Tracy, January 22, 2013). Naheeds corpus of work is a glaring
example of a marginalized voice dealing with a
When states, societies and families fail to sexist and gender-based social milieu. Fahmida
safeguard the rights of a person or group, literature Riaz, herself a great feminist poet, and
stands sentinel to protect those rights by raising contemporary of Naheed, admits that Naheed, as an
voice against injustices and atrocities. Therefore, it outspoken representative of women in literature
does not astonish that besides the women explored [the] themes related to women that were
movements against this authoritarian, feudalistic not touched by poets, such as physical violence
and inhuman culture, Pakistan witnessed a surge of meted out to women, oppression under the guise of
interest in feminist discourse that challenged the protecting women and female circumcision(Riaz,
society on behalf of the female victims who were 2012).
either killed or marginalized, and the ones who face
the threat of seclusion irrespective of their class Born in 1940 in Balandshahar, Uttar Pradesh,
and social status. It generated conflicts with into a conservative family in which the lore and
tradition and to some extent, religion, as interpreted tradition of her culture were alive and vibrant,
by men and expressed in Fundamentalist Islam Kishwar is witness to various forms of violence
(Ahmad, 1990. p.7). against women in the wake of partition and during
the turbulent years in Pakistan following partition
Kishwar Naheed is one of the foremost non- where her family migrated in the year after
conformist feminist poet, and the woman activist of Jinnahs death. She was denied formal school
Pakistan who actively participated in the agitations education and was forced to accept the orthodox
against state-run atrocities on women. She way of life. She experienced a childhood which
extensively wrote about the rigid constraints of the raised more questions in her young but sensitive
political system that is blended with farce mind than the combined capacity of those around
religiosity and hypocrisy. While rejecting the all- her to answer. Every time she was asked to shut up,
male chauvinistic social order, despite strong the revolt inside her gathered a bit more
religious convictions of her country, she struggled momentum (Ishtiaq, p. 300).
to redefine the status of women through her poetry.
She is aware that men are free and uninhibited to

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(3) March, 2014 9

The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

In not living up to the social stereotype of an were no other women around me who were as
ideal Muslim woman, she felt herself secluded daring as I was. I felt attacked by everyone. People
from her surroundings. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the criticized my poems (Suhail, n.d.). The Lips That
Qaid-e Azam, is reported to say that Speak generated a debate on feminism and gender
inequality too. This is particularly significant as it
No nation can rise to the height of glory is still deplorable and intolerable to let a woman
unless your women are side by side with speak against the male authority which has not only
you; we are victims of evil customs. It is a abused the bodies of women but has desecrated
crime against humanity that our women religion as well. Her autobiography, Burii Aurat
are shut up within the four walls of the kii Kathaa (A Bad Womans Story, 2009) is also
houses as prisoners. There is no sanction the tale of a rebellious soul. Given the social,
anywhere for the deplorable condition in religious and domestic structures of Pakistan,
which our women have to live (Walid,
1997, p. 23). it was only natural that she was treated
in the household with the contempt that a
Censorship, one of the earliest poems of Naheed, rebellious soul deserves-at least in the
clearly indicates that even after years of Jinnahs mind of the elders. As she forced her way
demise, there was a deep-rooted insecurity and into the world at large, she found it no less
anxiety among the women of Pakistan. regimented. Her marriage, her forays into
the literary world, her exposure to the
We, from the time immemorial, standing
work environment, her interactions with
on the rooftops of the stories
friends and so-called friends, her travels
believe that this city is ours. across the landnothing changed her
The earth beneath the walls of foundation view that the woman was a soul
has sunk
condemned.(Ishtiaq, p. 300)
but we, even now, standing on the
rooftops of the stories, 1. All translations are by Farhat Mansoob
assume life to be those wide fissures (2013) except where mentioned
in the shattered bricks of the insipid
afternoons wasted alleyways.1 One of her celebrated and oft-quoted poems
Ham Gunah-gaar AurateN (We Sinful Women)
grapples with this issue. The poem begins with the
The ironies and ambiguities coherent in these lines announcement that men can no more enforce their
clearly indicate that Naheed was not prepared to interpretations of social structure volens nolens,
accept the gender role allocated to women by the even if these women who do not conform to their
society. She derided the role of male-dominancy interpretation of family or social structure are
and the image of women created by male authors. called impure. The poem demonstrates a distinct
The intensely chauvinistic society derided her departure from the practice of submission to the
attitude towards men. Refusing to succumb to the patriarchal control in the name of religious order.
irrational restrictions and bondages, she didnt see
much difference between religious fanatics and It is we sinful women
communist fanatics, and declared that both were who are not awed by the grandeur of those who
extremists. She is aware that male dominance and wear gowns
commodification are subjecting women to violence who dont sell our lives
while on the other hand she also knows that the who dont bow our heads
religious fundamentalism is not a religious who dont fold our hands together
movement as it pretends to be, rather a political The poem, tinged with irony, challenges the
movement, aiming at seizing political power by authority of male prejudice and rejects the
force, if not otherwise (Helie-Lucas, 2004, p.25). restrictions falsely imposed on women.
It is we sinful women
Naheeds first collection of poetry Lab-e while those who sell the harvest of our bodies
Goya (The Lips That Speak) appeared in 1968. become exalted
This collection presents an unprecedented unique become distinguished
blend of bluntly expressed views on love, its become the just princes of the material world.
percussions, and the complexity of emotions
women experience within the constraint space of There is something reassuring about this
familial domesticity [and] the urban professional denunciation of eloquence when she says that
workplace (Anantharam, 2009, p.215). Its
publication was a bitter experience for her because It is we sinful women
she had to tolerate many mental tortures before its who come out raising the banner of truth
publication and faced many objections (Suhail, up against barricades of lies on the highways
n.d.). Recalling those days she mentions that no who find stores of persecution piled on each
one was in her favor, neither there was anybody threshold
sympathetic to her cause. I felt scared, as there

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The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

who find the tongues which could speak have been claiming authority over their own bodies,
severed. (Ahmad [tr], p. 31) women often challenge a wider spectrum
of collective male decision-making. This,
essentially, is the male prerogative and
honour that is violated. The killings
If poetry is imagined as a conceptual and
prompted by loss of honour are not only
erotic space where women could recognize women
about the loss of womens chastity per se,
concurrently as subjects and as objects of female
but also the loss of control and authority,
desire (de Lauretis cited in Parker et al., 1992,
far wider than control over a female body.
p.7), then Naheed is also among those women who
used this genre to give voice to issues of self and This poem presents repeated and ceaseless
sexuality and to write themselves into the nation authoritarian attempts to control the senses of a
(Anantharam, 2009, p.222). The dominant thought woman, her attempts of annihilation, sequences of
that exists within the Pakistani social system based her unwilling prostration and surrender to the will
on religion and taboos is to make a woman of a man that keep her trapped in her body and
perfect even if men keep themselves indulged in sexuality. This is seen by Anita Anantharam (2009,
all sorts of imperfections. For them, all struggles p.210) as a challenge to the capacity of society,
for womens human rights whether they emerge God, and Islam to restrict her movement. Albeit,
from within the boundaries of religion or from a Naheed, besides challenging the capacity of
secular and global perspective are equally seen as society, is trying to bring about a much needed
betrayal. Betrayal of ones religion: the monolithic paradigm shift in the interpretation of Islamic law
Islam. Betrayal of ones culture: the imaginary to expose the inequalities embedded in it not as a
transnational Muslim culture. And betrayal of ones manifestation of the divine will but as a
community: the Umma. Womens struggles for construction made by male jurists(Mir-Hosseini,
human rights are seen as dangerously divisive of 2004, p. 22). She is more interested in dangerous
the Muslim world (Helie-Lucas, 2004, p.31).The political and social construct of Muslimness rather
poem Anticlockwise is the first poem by a than Islam itself. The closing stanza of the poem is
Pakistani woman that shows this betrayal a caustic and satirical attack on the system.
unveiling the ugliest side of dominancy and
marginality: Your fear
of my being free, being alive
Even if my eyes become the soles of your feet and able to think
even so, the fear will not leave you might lead you, who knows, into what travails.
that though I cannot see (Ahmad [tr], p.60)
I can feel bodies and sentences
like a fragrance Another poem, KHud-Kalaamii (Talking to
Myself) also presents a reactionary argument that
Even if, for my own safety, goes well with Helene Cixous invocation that:
I rub my nose in the dirt till it becomes invisible
even so, this fear will not leave you Woman must write herself: must write about
that though I cannot smell women and bring women to writing, from which
I can still say something. they have been driven away as violently as from
their bodies for the same reason, by the same
Even if my lips, singing praises of your godliness law, with the same fatal goal. Woman must put
become dry and soulless herself into the text as into the world and into the
even so, this fear will not leave you history by her own movementWrite! Writing
that though I cannot speak is for you, you are for you; your body is yours,
I can still walk. take it. (Cixous, 1996, p. 320)

Naheed, without showing any hint of

Even after you have tied the chains of domesticity,
surrendering herself to the earthly gods, continues
shame and modesty around my feet
breaking the shackles around womens lives,
even after you have paralyzed me
this fear will not leave you thoughts and bodies. Neelaam Ghar (Auction
that even though I cannot walk House), published years before the promulgation of
the Hudood Ordinance, challenges the male
I can still think. (Ahmad [tr], p.59 )
authority on females body and mind with a
Nazish Brohi and Afiya Shehrbano (2008) argue chillingly bitter tone of hatred:
that if womens bodies are a governance tool, then

women eloping, marrying of their own

choice or entering into sexual relations The taste of death
sans marriage is not simply one that drips from his lips
in the forms of words.
provokes male egos. It is more about
women claiming political space. By

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The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

no more to be decided by men.

He, turning his hates into kisses,
planting blue scars on my face, I am not that woman selling you socks and shoes
wants to demonstrate that I am the one you buried in the walls
he has the right to use my body in whatever way he to make yourself fearless as the breeze
wants unaware and unmindful
While hitting my face that stones can never smother a voice
the imprints of your fingers
like a stuffed bread I am the one you kept hidden
leave hundred-colored balloons on my cheeks. within the weight of custom and tradition
You are the people with rights unaware and unmindful
You have won the rights in exchange of mehr that light can never be afraid of darkness

The poem Persona II written right after the I am the one whom, in the name of modesty and
implementation of the Hudood Ordinance describes chastity,
the tension of relationship between the oppressor you bought and sold
and the oppressed:
I am the one you married off
The meeting point of two slant lines to get rid of me
a meaningless act of unaware and unmindful
proving the logic of obscure relations. that a nation of enslaved minds can never flourish.
He, becoming the protector, for a long time you traded in my chastity
continued drawing lines around the meeting point my motherhood and my loyalty.
and within my being the line of negation and now it is the season for flowers to bloom on the
rejection laps, in the minds.
continued deepening. half-naked on the poster
What is the relation between a cave and a grave! no, I am not that woman selling you socks and
shoes..
The closing verse of this poem is a complete
rejection of male authoritarianism:
While the feminist reading of Sharia laws has its
own implications, the political reality acts as a
Wove my intestines into a rope
and enjoy swinging detriment for the women who are committed to
as I have shut seeking reforms through religious reinterpretation,
argues Afifa Faisal (2012), whether such
the cauldron of my tongue.
developments challenge the transformative
potential of Islamic feminism is subject to debate.
She is aware that how unbearable and painful
Naheed summarily rejects male hegemony that
would be the feelings of the male chauvinists who
have woven a web of controlling womens desires, sprouted in the guise of Hudood Ordinance, social
psyche and sexuality in the name of religion and taboos, various forms of domestic and social
violence, sexual abuse to victimize women.
culture. Undeterred by the authoritarian attitude she
challenges the whole religio-political social system: It is noteworthy that, not only todays
consumerist society, even classical Urdu poetry as
Punish me a whole, represents women fragmented into the
for I wrote the significance of the dream in elements of their anatomy. Naheed emerges as a
my own blood poet who strongly and vehemently objects to this
for I compiled a book ridden with obsessions trend. Sara Mills argues that this representation is
Punish me
for I freed womanhood from the insanity of far more frequently than do such representations
deluded nights of men this is true not only of pornographic
Punish me material, but advertising images, romances and
for you might lose face if I further live love poetry, amongst other genresthe [images
Punish me of] female identified by anatomical elements such
for I am the seeker of a new life in every breath as cheeks, forehead, eyes and lips-are so familiar
that it is difficult to imagine them otherwise, and
As, for women, who are frequently made so conventional that it is difficult to see their
the repositories of culture, the issue of identity is consequences as representations of the world.
crucial (Shaheed, 2004, p. 8), Mai kaun HuuN (Mills, 1995, p. 172).
(Who Am I) is one such poem where Naheed,
imbued with feminist triumph, exemplifies the The poem entitled Ay Meri Qaum! Meri Binti
stereotyping of women in a typical patriarchal Sun! (O My Nation! Listen to my Entreaty!) is a
society with the help of chilling imageries and direct attack on the unsolicited interference of
morbidity to let the world know that her identity is religion and the religious bodies working as

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The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

pressure groups for the states policies concerning universal issues of violation of human rights. This
womens rights, education, domestic and social demonstration of paradigm shift clearly illustrates
affairs. the second phase of Naheeds poetic development
wherein situating herself in the tradition, she strives
They hate woman, to detach herself from its cultural milieu.
as if they hate their own mother and their own
daughter On whom should I compose a poem now
In every shape of woman they see lust That widow
and decorate their dreams as such who without justice
May any disaster fall upon the world, under the shadow of spears and guns
they will not speak besides the grave
May all the officers of all the country is seeing her beloveds face
become corrupt, drunk, venal, On whom should I write a poem now
they will not speak The city of Kosovo
On each and every step throats are slit, where a mother
people are bought and sold, has found all her six beloved children
they will not speak. in the same grave
Yes, but if any woman emerges with a banner in Or should I go see in Albania
hand in unknown faces
instantly they will speak the same crying, lamenting motherhood
instantly delete her from the sphere of Islam, On whom should I write a poem now
from every reward of life. My seven year old girl
O my nation! is sitting in the imperial scales of the masters:
Seek shelter from these merchants of Islam Wear a chaddar
else in the harems of tribal leaders and landlords Laughing, talking, dancing, singing
our futures will be nurtured all are lewd(Shoaib, 2009, pp. 95-96)
These people will not issue fatwas against them
(Shoaib [tr], 2009, pp. 84-85) Whereas the earlier poems (from her
collection Lab-e Goyaa to Be-Naam Musaafat
Likewise, the poem Talibaan se Qibla-ruu [Unnamed Journey,1971], GaliyaaN Dhuup
Guftaguu (In a Solemn Conversation with the Darwaaze [Alleways, the Sun, Doorways, 1978],
Talibaan) directly hits the religious discourse MalaamatoN ke Darmayaan [Amidst Reproaches,
announcing womens participation in Islamic 1981], Siyaah Haashiye meN Gulaabii raNg [The
revitalization. Besides dealing with the restrictions Pink within a Black Border, 1986], and Khayaalii
being imposed upon women in the name of religion ShaKhs se Muqaabela [Confrontations with an
and culture, it paves ways for a feminist social Imagined Person, 2009]) that embody images like
critique operating within the threshold of Pakistani faces smoothly caked with powder like a fresh
culture. grave and frequent use of the imagery of a grave
or graveyard for a womans body and for the
They who are frightened even of girls country itself are stylistically rich with metaphors,
they who are averse even to knowledge and anaphors and metonymies, and represent host of
wisdom, issues related with emancipation of women, pain
they speak of the great God, and trauma of domestic and social violence, sexual
He, who commands knowledge..., abuses and female sexuality, the later poems in the
Unrelated to His command, poetry collections like Main Pehley Janam mei
they declare: Raat thi (I Was Night In My Previous Life, 1998),
that no hand should carry a book SoKhta-Saamaani-e Dil (Compositions of a
Nor fingers should hold a pen... Scorched Heart, 2002), Wahshat Aur Baaruud meN
Those frightened even of girls LipTii huii Shaaeri (The Poems Wrapped in Fright
announce everywhere: and Gunpowder, 2009) bear a vast range of topics.
that the budding contours of a girl They are a direct conversation with the collapsing
be veiled. social structure and with them who are self-
That there is no need appointed guardians of the society. These
that these girls collections show that the marginalized woman is
soar like birds... detaching herself from domestic, social and
these girls do not need to religious restraints.
go to any schools, any offices...
Naheed becomes increasingly prescient as she
Keep courage, believe this gets courage to vehemently criticize every obstacle
That they who are frightened even by girls that fetters the emergence and growth of a purely
they are such pygmies. humanistic point of view. Showalter talks about the
three phases that women writers passed:
The poems like ChiyuNtiaaN Haathi Khaa Jaati
HaiN (Ants Consume the Elephant) present

Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 2(3) March, 2014 13

The Impure Woman (Marginality and Detachment in the Poetry of Kishwar Naheed)

1. The feminine phase when women exile-in-space into something more bitter
began to write and imitate male masters, separation under the same roof (Milena Kosti,
concealing their true identity (for example, 2006, p. 78). Her creative process presents a
George Eliot). diachronic evaluation of her sensibility too, and it
reflects the changes in her thought process from
2. The feminist phase - that coincides with paradoxical space of marginality to defying socio-
the development of the suffragette cultural, political and literary traditions. Besides
movement. It is characterized by the the failure of the Pakistani state to provide justice,
outburst of women's anger and the desire its surrender to the militant Islam, rise of Taliban
to prove that women are equal to men. and neo-imperialism in Pakistan, and the US
invasion of Afghanistan, what rings clear in all of
3. The female (ideal) phase that started
Naheeds poetry is the call to equality and
when women began to write about their
undeniable rights for everyone especially women,
own experiences and disregarded the
as they become the subject of her poetry
world of men. (Milena Kosti, 2006, pp.
repeatedly (Shoaib, 2009, p.82).
72-73)
Kishwar Naheeds creativity, spanning
It can be justifiably said that a victim of more than four decades started from the voice of a
oppression and cruelty, Kishwar Naheed started her
secluded and marginalized womans reactions to
poetic journey as a suffragette, as a young girl who
the world around her. Fraught with feminist ideas,
was being forced to accept what she loathed. It was
doubts and depressions, being haunted by the
the beginning of being aware of the split within
voices of resistance and rebellion her poetic career,
herself with the awareness of socio-political and slowly and effectively, culminated into the quest
pseudo-religious restraints, state-run atrocities and for humanity forsaking the distinctions between
forced marriage that later turned from a filial
men and women.
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