Khyber Pakhtunkhwa censor board on the anvil
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is considering establishing a censor board for checking obscenity in movies and CD and tele-films. This was stated by provincial culture minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain during a Peshawar Press Club function organised to mark the fourth death anniversary of Pashto film star Badar Munir.
The minister expressed anger at growing obscenity in CD films and said the provincial government was mulling to establish a censor board to check it in the post-18th Amendment regime. He said being part of the society, it was also the responsibility of CD producers to formulate a code of conduct for themselves to stop obscenity in CD films so as their films could be watched by families.
He said he would soon convene a meeting of the CD Producer Association to discuss the matter. Mr Hussain paid rich tribute to Badar Munir for promoting Pashto film industry and announced to name Cinema Road in Peshawar and a block of the under-construction ‘Jibran Adeel Cultural Academy’ after him.
He said Mr Munir was the crownless king of Pashto industry, who ruled it for around three decades. He added that Mr Munir was the shining star and all Pakhtuns were proud of him.
“He’s a natural actor, who got name and fame using own capabilities,” he said.
The minister said all artists of the land were respectable for him and he could not think of discriminating against any of them. He said there would be no discrimination against any artist and rather every one would be given the due respect.
Cultural Journalists Forum president Ehtisham Toru asked the government to crack down on obscene Pashto films, stage shows, CD films and telefilms, saying they’re tarnishing the image of Pakhtuns. He said the forum’s repeated requests to the government for formation of a censor board had fallen on deaf ears.
IT minister Ayub Khan, ANP leader Tajuddin Khan, provincial culture secretary Azmat Hanif Orakzai and CD Producers Association president Musafar Khan also spoke on the occasion. They paid rich tribute to Mr Munir. Later, participants prayed for the early recovery of child activist Malala Yousufzai, who was recently shot by the Taliban militants in Swat.
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