Daily Times

Prime Minister’s Special Assistant for Information & Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Saturday that the government was all committed to revive film industry and resettle cinemas to portray Pakistan’s soft image to the world as well as promote Pakistani culture, Islamic ideology and philosophy as per vision of PM Imran Khan.

She was addressing a news conference after chairing a meeting of film industry stakeholders here at PID office while, Film Producers Association Chairman Amjad Rasheed, Film Exhibitors Association Chairman Zoraiz Lashari, renowned film producer Syed Noor, and Zakria Butt also accompanied her.

Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan was of the opinion that a brighter face of Pakistan’s tourism could not be highlighted without resettling the cinemas and local production of films depicting Pakistani culture and Islamic values.

After the 18th Amendment, the provinces had established their censor boards due to which unification and ratification link of censorship of films under one umbrella was missed, she said and added that keeping this factor in view, the federal government was going to put the problems pertaining to film industry before the Council of Common Interests so as to constituted a consensus censorship board.

After film industry, she mentioned, the government was also mulling to give an industry status to cinemas as well, besides securing the rights of the art and the artists and reviving the studios, cinemas and film production house which were ruined by the menace of terrorism. Suffocation prevailed in the society as our youth had to rely on Indian and western movies, and subsequently, they tried to synergize the cultural and social values of the west with their own culture and in this way, they were going far from Pakistani and Islamic culture and values, she maintained.

After the 18th Amendment, the provinces had established their censor boards due to which unification and ratification link of censorship of films under one umbrella was missed, she said and added that keeping this factor in view, the federal government was going to put the problems pertaining to film industry before the Council of Common Interests so as to constitute a consensus censorship board

Dr Firdous also repeated the prime minister’s vision and message for film producers that they must promote Pakistani culture and tradition, and being Muslims, they do focus on Islamic values, philosophy and ideology while making films. Since the number of Sikh yatrees from across the world coming to Pakistan had increased manifolds with the establishment of Kartarpur Corridor therefore such films must also be produced locally which provided them entertainment here.