THE TRAUMA OF PARTITION AND IDENTITY CRISIS: A CRITIQUE ON SABIHA SUMAR'S KHAMOSH PANI

Abstract

Set against the background of General Zia's regime and coupled with the frequent flashbacks to the Pak-India Partition of 1947, Khamosh Pani (2003) by Sabiha Sumar, retells the story of a middle-aged widow in the village of Charkhi, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Initially born Sikh, Veero converts to Islam after the atrocities of the partition, and is named as Ayesha. Torn between the memories of and from her past and the present life on one hand, and her loyalty, faith and identity questioned at every step of her new life on the other hand places her in the state and space of 'inbetweenness' that typically fits into Bhabha's (1994) hybridity and Spivak's (2010) subaltern who cannot speak. Studies haves been conducted on the subaltern and hybrid identities; however, limited or no significant research has been carried out on the subject at hand in reference to Khamosh Pani (2003). Therefore, essentially qualitative in nature, this paper uses the parameters of Textual Analysis  set by Catherine Belsey (2013) and further uses the lenses of Bhabha's Hybridity (1994) and Spivak's Subaltern (2010) to probe into the duality of the character of Veero/Ayesha and determine her true identity.