To Women Who Inherit this Anthem,

With due humility, this khaksar offers a few reflections on how the phrase, Hum Gunahgar Aurtain (We Sinful Women), by Kishwar Naheed, continues to resonate and is purposefully reclaimed as part of our shared social history.

I begin by invoking Juliet's timeless question: "What's in a name?" Yet, as our own history attests, names in our feminist struggle are never mere labels. They are banners, battlegrounds and badges of honour. Reclaiming the word gunahgar - sinful - was not a simple rhetorical gesture. It was a bloody and deliberate battle fought on the streets of Lahore. That struggle still echoes in the hearts of women who march - or rather, advance, grow and develop - today, whether in protest or in poetry and dance.

In recent years, I have observed with admiration and a measure of critical affection the proliferation of Naheed's title across the landscape of Pakistani art, literature and activism. What is most striking is how each artist approaches the label of gunahgar in a distinct manner - some........

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