Protests in Pakistan to lift ban on ''Manto''

Smita Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 13

Amid cross-border shelling and political animosity, a rare India-Pak solidarity is at display. Pakistani civil society groups, journalists and artists have joined hands to demand the Imran Khan government to lift ban on Indian film ‘Manto’.

The critically-acclaimed movie by Nandita Das is a celebration of the legendary Urdu writer who chose to go to Pakistan post partition in January 1948 after having lived in Bombay since 1936. He faced nearly half-a-dozen trials for his controversial and frank writings but his legacy is respected by people of the subcontinent. 

Now people are coming together on Monday afternoon at 4pm (local time) to protest in Lahore, Karachi,Peshawar and Multan to demand that screening of the movie be allowed in Pakistan. 

Saeed Ahmed, a journalist and playwright who was also a key consultant for the movie started an online petition on change.org and has called for the protests in collaboration with Manto Memorial Society to #FreeManto.

In an open letter to PM Imran Khan, petitioner Saeed Ahmed wrote,“Saadat Hassan Manto had faced persecution, torture and years of court trials during “Purana Pakistan”. Would the same dreadful fate befall the writers, particularly,‘Manto’ in “Naya Pakistan”?”

Speaking to The Tribune from Lahore, Saeed Ahmed said while the film was cleared by the Sindh branch of the Censor board,objections were raised by the board in Lahore citing obscenity and the movie’s stand opposing partition. Unfortunately the distributor and the exhibitor who had applied for the CBFC clearance chose to not respond to the show cause notice and argue their case for the movie to be screened. “Manto is under worst attack by the state machinery and censor board has taken liberty to snub and kill sanity in my country. This is the attack on common sense and good sense of the people,” remarked Ahmed.

Reacting to the support across the border for her film in which Nawazuddin Siddiqui through his powerful performance portrays the protagonist, actor and filmmaker Nandita Das wrote on Facebook, “It is very moving to see that so many writers, artists, activists, concerned citizens have taken it upon themselves to fight the battle to screen MANTO in Pakistan. My team and I can take zero credit for this. I hope the needle will move and GEO TV - Har Pal Geo, the distributor, will also join the efforts.”

Last week the Executive Director of the Lahore Arts Council reportedly cancelled the Manto festival scheduled from January 14 to 16 and would have showcased four theatre productions based on the author’s work and life. This also fuelled protests with citizens questioning if the governments of the day were wrong in commemorating Manto’s fiftieth death anniversary by releasing a postage stamp in 2005 or posthumously awarding him the Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Distinguished Service to Pakistan ) award on August 14, 2012.

The Communist Party of Pakistan today at the Progressive Writers’ Association in Hyderabad unanimously passed a resolution condemning the ban and has decided to join the protests on Monday.