Winning an Oscar is a dream which every film maker has. A life time achievement for a person who works hard, day and night for making his/her film on the selection criteria of Jewry of Oscar and highlight those issues which are important.
Sharmeen Obaid Chinnoy is the only Pakistani women who bought two Oscars in our Country which is highly appreciable and I heartily congratulate her on this achievement. She made Pakistan proud and elevated the level of Pakistan. But, there is a problem that a lot of people are raising their voice against her and it is in the favor of Pakistan. Sharmeen Obaid Chinnoy has made 2 Short documentaries; in her first documentary “Saving Face (2011)”, she mentioned The Acid burn victims- those women who are surviving with extremely painful wounds which crushes the self-esteem of a women. However, they undergo several surgeries but the pain of losing their identity and beauty still remains there. Moreover, acid voilence is an extreme form of physical abuse and is systematically under- reported but it’s one of a worst reality of our society and we are still trying to overcome it by all means but instead of highlighting this issue Sharmeen Obaid should help those Acid burn victims by performing reconstructive surgeries with the help of National or International doctors/ cosmetic surgeons like our the most honorable Ma’am Mussarat Misbah is doing without working for her fame, she’s helping those survivors not only by surgeries but she also offers them respectable job in her Salon and wherever those women are interested or have expertise. Apart from this, she also motivates them and brings a light of hope in their lives. So Musrat Misbah’s step is much more appreciable then Sharmeen’s short film story which depicts a negative image of Pakistan in World.
Yesterday, she again got an Oscar on her short film A Girl in the River – The price of Forgiveness. A story of a girl who was brutally beaten by her father, her face was damaged and discarded her in the river from where she was saved by the Policemen and then she got surgeries and she’s still alive to tell her story to the world. And yet she again won an Oscar for this.
I’m not criticizing her that why she raised the Honor Killing? My point is, you are an amazing film maker and determined to work on Women rights, so why you don’t give prominence to those women who bought change in the society and broken stereotypes, instead of showing our country as a backward, deprived of knowledge and under developed country. It’s net national duty to highlight, encourage and bring those women on page who exemplified themselves in our society. It will be a positive and encouraging message for women of Pakistan.
If you prominent the successful women of Pakistan it will be highly appreciable by all like one of our most honorable Major Imran Raza a writer of “Bara Dushman bana phirat hai” and “Mujhay Dushman k bachon ko Parhana hai” and other documentaries he made; did. However, he has made a documentary on Pakistan Army and ISPR “The Defenders” and won the Best documentary award in Rome Film Festival which is highly appreciable.
Apart from this not only Pakistan is suffering from this crime West side are also confronting this issue for several years. Honor-based crimes were known in medieval Europe where early Jewish law mandated death by stoning for an adulterous wife and her partner. Today the practice is most commonly associated with regions in North Africa and in the Middle East also. Here, I’m going to mention few honor killings cases in Europe and West side had.
– In France, A man insulted by a slap across the face, who asked his son to defend his honor in a duel? In Canada, dueling continued into the late 1800s.
– In Britain, the fifth wife of Henry VIII was beheaded based on allegations of adultery.
– Even in British literature, Shakespeare’s Desdemona was killed over allegations of infidelity, and Romeo and Juliet tracked an ancient family feud over honor.
– King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table centered on notions of honor.
– The premise of the Three Musketeers was the King’s guards avenging the betrayal of the king by Cardinal Richelieu.
-In Brazil and parts of Latin America, machismo is often described as a code of honor.
-In the early times of Peru, the laws of the Incas permitted husbands to starve their wives to death as punishment for committing an adulterous act.
-Aztec laws resulted in death by stoning or strangulation for female adultery during the early times of Mexico.
So, these are few cases that I’ve found there were and still are several cases of honor killings in West side. Indeed, it’s a crime and disgrace of women in all societies and the criminal should be punished on his brutality but raising it on world level where you can also emphasize a positive picture of Pakistan will be worthy of praise. Creating such kind of short films for Oscar winning category is unacceptable, It’s kind of disgracing the nation and the country on world level. Positive side of Pakistan should be spread over the world which will be quite grossing for country.
