Ever since Sharmeen
Obaid-Chinoy has won the Oscar, there have (as usual) been various
reactions from Pakistan.
I would be fair and say that uptil now most reactions have been positive, but slowly
various others have also surfaced, and many are hesitant to openly give her the
credit that she deserves. Whether or not the Academy Awards jury comprises a
bunch of people who belong to the consolidated status quo, the point is that in
order to reach that benchmark, it is a long, strenuous and difficult journey which
may or may not even lead to a nomination and SOC has won the award.
In her reception, she was well spoken, confident, and paid
tribute to the women of Pakistan
who are continually fighting to win over their daily oppression. Of course the two
women who are the voice in her film Saving
Face, have not only been oppressed and trampled. They have also been
victims of a heinous crime: acid
throwing after which their faces have been disfigured badly.
I have seen many such women during my reporting years spent
in Karachi
and it is indeed not an easy sight to behold. When a victim you talk to is
blind, because her eyes have dissolved away, she has no nose, her skin has
liquefied and frozen as if it was wax, and she is emotionally, psychologically,
and mentally so vulnerable, and so injured, that you feel as if your own
physical features are a luxury that you own.
It is a worse feeling when the acid victim dies.
One day she is lying on that hospital bed describing the
horrendous incident, and all events prior to the attack, resolving that she will
fight against it all. You go home somewhat relieved and even inspired that such
women still exist.
The next day, you find out that she has died.
If SOC chose to take up the story of two acid victims who had
lost their faces and were now being treated by a doctor who is restructuring
their faces to give them a ‘new life’, as the cliché goes, what is wrong with
that? It is a brilliant topic, journalistically speaking. If this film got the
Oscar, I am sure it was well deserved.
But alas for Pakistanis. They are never happy with anything.
On Facebook there have been a number of comments which are applauding the
Oscar. But since morning, I have been waiting for comments like “Look at the
clothes she is wearing while representing Pakistan”, “She has defamed the
country”, and “Why do we only want to show Pakistanis in a bad light aboard”. I
knew these were coming. And they did come.
First a gentleman said, “Before only Pakistanis knew that
women were being mistreated. Now the whole world knows.” A sad state indeed.
The mistreatment towards women should be hidden within our country. Why would
we want anyone to know of this? The issue might just get a few supporters from
abroad!
Then a member of the female sex opined that Sharmeen had won
at the expense of someone else. “Someone’s pain, another’s gain” she added to
the conversation with a sarcastic smile, or at least it seemed like a sarcastic
smile to me, even though I was on Facebook.
Her pearls of wisdom made me realize that this country in
fact, has nothing to contribute, in the name of social progression. When women
talk like this about people who stand up for women’s rights, its time to run
for it.
The first comment about the world being enlightened about the
mistreatment of women was a laugh, if one can manage to laugh and not puke with
disgust first. But my first reaction
was anger.
But I knew this line of thinking was the typical product of
a patriarchal society. The thinking goes along this line:
“domestic violence is a family matter and should be kept within the
confines of the house. That is why to the people who have the same mind set, it
is conclusive that “a country’s dirt should not be serenaded anywhere else.”
Why do people react like this?
What is wrong with them?
Is it impossible for the general public to understand that facts
are facts and they ought to be brought out in the front? That is the work of a
journalist: to tell the truth. But in a society where the sensationalist media
has taken the reigns in its hands, it would be strange if people don’t think
this way. It’s all about propaganda now thanks to Musharraf, in whose time spin
doctors began to throw about the expression, “soft image”. Today this nonsensical
cliché has stuck itself in everybody’s heads, and people repeat it like it’s
the solution to all our problems.
Which reminds me, Musharraf had the same kind of
“hide-the-dirty-linen” stance when it came to Mukhtaran Mai.
If washing your dirty linen in public is a bad idea then we
must learn to forgive Zardari, and Altaf Husain and Shahbaz Sharif, and
Zia-ul-Haq among others. Everything must be hushed up in case the “image” of
our holy land is marred. The award was a sad action for many because it showed
a negative image of the country.
That’s reasonable considering Pakistan
is a country full of joie de vivre, tolerance, and a place which gives its
citizens a ‘helluva’ good time.
Yet another complaint
is:
“If we show our bad side to the ‘goras’, we will easily get awards”.
But I’ll ignore that more or less. That’s basically just a
snide way of saying that SOC tried out the casting
couch to sell some poverty porn.
If that’s what you guys want to think it’s your opinion, but seriously…gimme a
break.
You think the Oscar jury is sitting there to award Sharmeen
Obaid Chinoy from Pakistan
an award? Oh please. You can do better than that. Next…
Funnily, no one has an objection if news packages play up
these issues everyday. It only becomes an issue when someone gets an Oscar for
it.
Not that those who want to promote a softer image are not encouraging
propaganda in themselves.
Seriously speaking the dishonesty starts from here when
people expect that ‘positive images’ are something that should be blindly
promoted.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not as if Pakistan
has nothing good to show. But when we make the argument of promoting positive
images, do we really CARE about those images ourselves?
We have zero tourism,
but we often show the topographical beauty of our land. We have no idea about
our regional cultures, yet we promote folk culture. The common citizen appears
to be all progressive and tolerant, yet that is exactly what we are not. Our
citizens are unequal. It is the rich,
Muslim man who is the strongest, and the poor, non-Muslim woman who is the most marginalized in our society.
Then WHAT should we promote as a positive image? Think about
it.
Getting back to the situation, what I’m now waiting for is
for someone to comment on her clothes and say that she is a ‘kaafir’, and that
this is not what “our culture” (Islam and Pakistan) teaches us, and that a
woman like that cant be the judge of anything.
I’m just seeing how long it takes before someone makes a Veena Malik out of her.
