Feb 12 2016 : The Times of India (Chennai)
Pakistani Oscar-nominated film tackles `honor' killings
Pakistan:
AGENCIES
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When Saba Qaiser was 19 years old, her uncle and father shot her in the head, stuffed her in a bag and threw into a river to die. They said she had shamed her family when she married the boy of her choice.She crawled from the water, severely wounded. It was pitch black. She grabbed hold of the scraggly bushes on the river's edge and pulled herself to safety . In the distance, Saba could see only the single headlight of a motorcycle and then a gas station.
“Save me. Save me,“ she pleaded to the doctor who eventually treated her.
Saba is the hero of the Oscar-nominated documentary “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,“ by Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy .
It explores the practice of honor killings, where fathers, husbands and brothers kill their wives, daughters or sisters for shaming them, accusing them of “stealing“ their honor. The offence could be as minor as a misinterpreted look in the direction of a boy , sitting too long in the presence of an un known man or in Saba's case, marrying a man of her choice.
An average of 1,000 women are killed each year in socalled “honor killings,“ according to estimates used by many women's rights groups in Pakistan. Most often, men who kill female relatives are not prosecuted, because Pakistani law allows relatives of the victim to forgive the killer, a provision based in Islamic law. Since in these cases the killer is also a family member, the relatives almost always forgive him.
“It is pre-meditated, coldblooded murder. You hunt them down and you shoot them,“ Obaid-Chinoy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It should be decided (in court) as a killing.
Obaid-Chinoy wants the law changed and wants Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to go beyond just condemning honor killings.She would like to screen her movie at the prime minister's residence with “all the stakeholders“ present _ politicians, judiciary , police, victims, and activists _ in hopes of bringing change.
In 2012, Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary “Saving Face,“ depicting the suffering of victims of acid attacks.
“Save me. Save me,“ she pleaded to the doctor who eventually treated her.
Saba is the hero of the Oscar-nominated documentary “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,“ by Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy .
It explores the practice of honor killings, where fathers, husbands and brothers kill their wives, daughters or sisters for shaming them, accusing them of “stealing“ their honor. The offence could be as minor as a misinterpreted look in the direction of a boy , sitting too long in the presence of an un known man or in Saba's case, marrying a man of her choice.
An average of 1,000 women are killed each year in socalled “honor killings,“ according to estimates used by many women's rights groups in Pakistan. Most often, men who kill female relatives are not prosecuted, because Pakistani law allows relatives of the victim to forgive the killer, a provision based in Islamic law. Since in these cases the killer is also a family member, the relatives almost always forgive him.
“It is pre-meditated, coldblooded murder. You hunt them down and you shoot them,“ Obaid-Chinoy said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It should be decided (in court) as a killing.
Obaid-Chinoy wants the law changed and wants Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to go beyond just condemning honor killings.She would like to screen her movie at the prime minister's residence with “all the stakeholders“ present _ politicians, judiciary , police, victims, and activists _ in hopes of bringing change.
In 2012, Obaid-Chinoy won an Oscar for her documentary “Saving Face,“ depicting the suffering of victims of acid attacks.
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