Published by Lakeer on Chowk on March 31, 2024

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The essay is an Urdu translation of Awais Ahmad's Awais, a reintroduction of my name. Awais, the narrator, uses his name to open up a conversation about growing up and facing the state-sponsored forgetting of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan.

In the essay, Awais shares how his association with his name shaped his sense of self in his early life. He draws on his angst to forget everything it meant to him to be free and to create himself anew. However, once he reconnects with his familial history, Awais shares that his mother's younger brother and his namesake transformed his relationship with his name and consequently, his sense of self and purpose. 

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The essay tells the truths of a persecuted religious minority group violently erased by the Pakistani state that systematically makes its citizens forget the blood on its hands.