KARACHI: The federal government on Friday justified its decision of prohibiting the exhibition of a film, “Maalik”, stating that the theme of the film goes against the National Action Plan of the government.
Filing comments at the Sindh High Court on a petition against the ban on the exhibition of the Pakistani film “Maalik”, the federal government’s Central Board of Film Censors submitted that it received a plethora of public complaints from different sections of society against the exhibition of the film.
The government officer submitted that the federal government, while exercising powers conferred by Section 9 of the Motion Pictures Ordinance, declared the film in question as de-certified in entire Pakistan with immediate effect.
“The prompt case of action was based on the very sensitive nature of public complaints against the film in question from certain linguistic communities, i.e. Pashtuns, Baloch and Sindhis, the civil society, political activists, families of Shaheed police officials etc,” the censor board stated.
The censor board also questioned investment of Rs40 million on the film by a government servant and wondered how a civil servant of grade 19 could accumulate an amount of Rs40 million from his salaries to produce a high-cost film.
The censor board submitted that the film was critical of social, political and judicial system of the country. Besides, “Maalik” caused anxiety and anger among different ethnic and linguistic communities, and it depicted a society which was being run by people who were looting and plundering the nation.
The censor board submitted that the film projected a celebrated and heroic death of a former Afghan Mujahid which was against the spirit of the National Action Plan being successfully implemented jointly by the political and military leadership of the country.
The censor board official submitted that the central character of the film was shown as a feudal politician who rose to the post of chief minister through unfair means. “The politicians as a whole have been shown to be corrupt, immoral and dishonest with the people,” he submitted.
He submitted that the film portrayed an Afghan Mujahid as a hero and the police force as terrorists which spread terror through their brutal use of power, and the theme of the film went against the National Action Plan of the government.
He stated that the movie presented Pakistan as a lawless state where the state institutions were crippled, inefficient, incapacitated hence openly inciting the common people to take law into their own hands.
The government officer submitted that the contents of the film were objectionable, and thus the federal government had taken the right decision to de-certify the film.
Ashir Azeem, the writer and director of “Maalik”, had approached the court against the decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to withdraw the certificate for exhibition of the film in the country.
The petitioner submitted in the petition that the Sindh board of film censors had on April 6 issued provisional certificate for exhibition of the film, and it was also cleared through Islamabad and Punjab censor boards.
He submitted that the film was exhibited at the cinemas of the country for three weeks when the provincial board of film censors suspended its certificate on April 26, and on April 27, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting declared the film as uncertified under the motion picture ordinance across Pakistan with immediate effect.
The director of the film submitted that the film was based on social issues and it exposed the negative political system, but it did not target the current political government, institutions or any other authority.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that the impugned notice was unlawful as no prior show-cause notice was given to the petitioner under the ordinance, and the film did not contain any scenes which could damage the image of the country.
The court was requested to set aside the impugned order and vacate the ban on the exhibition of the film in cinemas of the country.