Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's Saving Face wins First Ever Oscar for Pakistan

It is both sad and happy occasion that Pakistan wins its first ever Oscar on a documentary film that is about a heinous crime committed in Pakistan - the acid throwing, mostly targeting women. Although there are no reliable national statistics, but as per an estimate more than hundred cases are reported of people attacked with acid, majority of the victims being women. The figure could even increase if all incidents are reported and registered. The crime is generally committed against wives by the carried out in the family home, by husbands or in-laws or by failed lovers.

The life of the acid victims is a nightmare for the rest of their lives living with dis-configured faces, burnt bodies and scars. Acid throwing menace not only happens in Pakistan but most East Asian countries like India, Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy wins Oscar for her Best Documentary (Short Subject) Saving Face

Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, a Pakistani journalist, documentarian and an Emmy nominated dared to pick up this inhuman practice as  subject for her short subject documentary 'Saving Face.' Sharmeen, who has directed several documentary films, won an Emmy award in 2010 for her documentary Pakistan: Children of the Taliban.

'Saving Face', directed by Oscar and Emmy nominated filmmaker Daniel Junge and Emmy winning Pakistan director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, іѕ thе ѕtοrу οf two women frοm Southern Punjab whο аrе victims οf acid violence and their battle for justice and their journey of healing.

Let us hope that the awareness created through this documentary brings a change in the attitude of our people and help stop the violence against women.

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Entertainment? Not Anymore

Yesterday, my sons asked me and my wife to accompany them to watch the newly released move “Salt.” Since we could not celebrate the birthday of our elder son as he was away to Karachi for his internship, we gladly obliged. We went to the Cinepax cinema complex in Jinnah Park, Chaklala Rawalpindi for the movie. These cinemas, though a bit expensive, are much cleaner as compared to other cinemas in town and aren’t overcrowded. But this time it was different.

Normally the ticket is around Rs. 250 that also included a Rs. 50 voucher for snacks. But this time, the ticket was for Rs. 400, which was really disturbing. When asked the reason, I was appalled to know that the honourable chief minister aka “Khadam-e-Punjab (the servant of people of the Punjab)” has imposed a 65% entertainment tax on cinema tickets. So we were to pay some Rs. 157.00 as entertainment tax for each ticket that we purchased. Isn’t this disgusting?

There are hardly any places left for entertainment around the city and the ones that are open to public have been levied this unjust tax. How can then we have entertainment if at all we want to? For the personal comfort of the top elite of the province, we have bullet proof cars at the expense of the tax payers of the province and their other lavish style of movement and governance. For their cars, even tyres costing millions are purchased after every few months. When they move, they have dozens of escort cars as if some foreign head of state is moving. Platoons of Police and other agencies are posted on their entire route for their protection. All this cost money and all this money goes from the funds that should have reserved for the welfare of the public. But as if there is a shortage of money for their lavish life style that required extra funds, which now seem to be realized from this imposition of this enhanced entertainment tax.

If sanity still prevails in some quarters, I would demand of these so called servants of the people to let people have some entertainment by not adding on the entrainment tax but by reducing/curtailing the expenditures that are incurred on their self.

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