Panopticizing the Sensual Representations of Homoeroticism in Ismat Chughtai’s “Lihaaf”

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/11/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 6 (2026)

Article No.

083

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.67693/BJCR-ZYS6THDX

Received

31 Oct 2026

Views

30

Downloads

11

Abstract

The most perilous thing about desire is not being seen, but refusing to disappear when unseen. Ismat Chughtai’s Lihaaf constructs precisely such a paradox: a world in which desire remains unnamed, yet its shadows become impossible to ignore. The research paper reads the story as an inquiry into the philosophical relationship between seeing and knowing, secrecy and visibility, power and desire. Foucault’s notion of panopticism provides the principal framework for examining how the social gaze becomes internalized, transforming surveillance into a condition of existence. Within this framework, the quilt assumes an ontological significance. It is neither simply a covering nor merely a symbol; it becomes a threshold between what society permits to exist and what it compels to remain unsaid. Begum Jaan’s neglected body finds expression through Rabbu, exposing the gendered logic of patriarchal morality. The child narrator sees without fully knowing, placing the reader in the fragile space between visibility and interpretation. The paper argues that Lihaaf derives its radical force not from naming forbidden desire but from making its silence speak. Chughtai thus transforms the unseen into a philosophical challenge to the authority of the social gaze.

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.