The Affective Politics of Cybercrime: Mapping the Discourse of Victimhood in Aik Aur Pakeezah

Abstract

The research paper examined the affective politics of cybercrime in the Pakistani drama Aik Aur Pakeezah (2026). Aik Aur Pakeezah is written by Bee Gul and directed by Kashif Nisar. The paper used the theoretical framework of Sara Ahmed’s affect theory. The researcher addressed the emotions of shame and fear that stick to victims’ bodies and set the preparator free. It moves beyond the technical and legal grounds of cybercrime towards the aftermath that is culturally, socially and morally grounded faced by victims. The research has two objectives; At first, it examined shame and fear as tools to silence victims in Aik Aur Pakeezah. Secondly, it investigated the circulation of shame and displacement of blame from preparator towards the victims. It employed the qualitative textual analysis of selected episodes and scenes to examine the mentioned objectives. The concepts of stickiness, affective economy, sticky signs, shame and fear are applied to Aik Aur Pakeezah in analysis. The findings illustrate that the two objectives operate as a single continuous affective process. It discussed the use of Honour based vocabulary such as Izzat, Ghairat. The emotions of shame and fear are reproduced and displaced due to the use of vocabulary. The analysis is extended to the discussion of male victimhood. Through the character of “Faraz’’ in context of cybercrime in Pakistani television drama Aik Aur Pakeezah.  

 Keywords: Affect theory, Cybercrime, Victimhood, Shame, Fear, Pakistani Television drama, Honor culture.