What words did she utter in the falsa field?

What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…when a drink from her hand was refused
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…when the women snubbed her for her own faith
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…when the pious ladies asked her to convert
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…when the village asked her to confess

 ‘I uttered nothing,’ did she resist, ‘the Prophet is also mine.’

What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…which made her face a trial
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…that the judge convicted her
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…that the people wanted to take her life
What words did she utter in the falsa field?
…that ten million voices arose

‘I said no words, no words were mine,’ she said, ‘those words were not mine’

Who said those words, that she had said
What made those words a crime?

‘Don’t ask,’ she said, ‘I say nothing. The words I couldn’t have said.’

Her words were a crime
She could not say them
Her words were a crime
No one could repeat them

Her words were a crime
… so did no one repeat them?
Her words did blaspheme
…tell me who repeated them?

The accuser repeated them
Not once, not twice, everytime I met them
The cleric repeated them
Not once, not twice, but everytime to incite someone
The investigator repeated them
Not once, not twice, but everytime he needed to
The witnesses repeated them
Not once, not twice, but everytime they were asked to
The judge repeated them
Not once, not twice, but everytime he meant to

IF I tell you her words were not her words anymore
They were the accuser’s words
They were the cleric’s words
They were the investigator’s words
They were the witnesses’ words
They were the judge’s words

IF I tell you the words Aasiya is accused to have said
They were not hers, they were never hers
They were the words of everyone else

Ignorant men, ignorant women, ignorant souls – You and I
Filthy our words, filthy our thoughts, filthy our souls – You and I
Guilty be me, guilty be you, guilty be all – You and I

- The poem derives from an interview with Aasiya Bibi in the Sheikhupura District Jail, the accusing ladies at Itanwali and the casefile of Aasiya bibi