The publication of "Lihaaf" ("The Quilt") led to much controversy, uproar and an obscenity trial, where Ismat had to defend herself in the Lahore Court. She was asked to apologize and refused, winning the case after her lawyer said that the story makes no suggestion to a sexual act, and prosecution witnesses could not point out any obscene words: the story is merely suggestive and told from perspective of a small girl.[1] Years later, she mentioned in detail the court trial in her memoir, Kaghazi Hai Pairahan (A Life in Words: Memoir).[3]
The short story became a landmark for its early depiction of sex, at the time, a taboo in modern Indian literature, let alone Urdu literature.[4][5]
