The State

The author uses this theme to depict the state as a perpetrator of injustice and xenophobia. Karamat Lone, the British home secretary is the primary representative of the state, pitting him against Aneeka Pasha in her battle to have her brother Parvaiz's body returned to England. Lone is unaware that Parvaiz was fleeing ISIS when he was killed, and he likely would not care, therefore he revokes Parvaiz's British citizenship and sends his body to Pakistan. Aneeka flies to Karachi to intercept the body and stage a protest against the state on the lawn of the British embassy, where she is killed by a terrorist bomb meant for Lone's son Eamonn.

The state's xenophobic practices are established at the outset of the novel by Isma's treatment at the airport while attempting to fly to America. She is detained, questioned for hours, and her belongings are...