Import of Indian films: Committee to be led

Marriyum Aurangzeb

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday formed a special committee to consider the issue of importing Indian films. The committee would be led by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb. The committee would also include Adviser to the Prime Minister Irfan Siddiqui, Secretary Commerce Azmat Ranjha, Chairman Film Censor Board Mubashir Hasan, DG Pakistan National Council of Arts and a representative from a national security institution.

A session of the special committee, formed by the PM Nawaz Sharif, has been called on coming Wednesday. In this meeting, various issues, including the import and screening of Indian films, will be discussed. According to the sources, distributors and cinema owners across Pakistan had stopped importing and screening Indian films last year after Pak-India relations went sour. Since then, Indian films have been openly available online and on various other forums. This has seriously damaged the Pakistani cinema industry.

Due to the insistence of Pakistani cinema industry, the PM has formed a special committee to discuss issues, including the import of Indian films. This committee will be led by the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb.

According to the sources, the Ministry of Commerce considers import of Indian films on case to case basis, which is further looked after by the Central Board of Film Censors, Pakistan. Eventually, the board decides if a certain film will be screened or not.

The recently-formed special committee will discuss the case of importing Indian films and will present the recommendations to the federal government.