Activist Documentary Film in Pakistan: The Emergence of a Cinema of Accountability by Rahat Imran

Author:Rahat Imran [Imran, Rahat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ethnic Studies, Social Science, Political Science, Political Freedom, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781317503392
Google: DMlJDAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 30536902
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

The issues detailed and analysed in Pakistan’s Taliban Generation are ongoing: growing Taliban influence and recruitment; indoctrination of jihadis, and extremist ideologies in madrasas; anti-US sentiments; suicide attacks; terrorist organizations and their operations. Obaid-Chinoy’s film not only informs of Pakistan’s ongoing political, social, and economic upheavals and security challenges but also performs the multiple role of investigating and communicating the consequential present and future threats to Pakistan, and also for the world. The textual reading and analysis of Pakistan’s Taliban Generation thus completes the sequence of her six films that can be described as a thematically related ‘Cinema on Terror’ that tracks and contextualizes the multi-faceted roots and complicated patterns of religious extremism and terrorism intensifying in Pakistan.

Conclusion

This chapter discussed Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s six representative films that depict and contextualize Pakistan’s continuing experience with a militant mix of religion and politics and the looming threat of Talibanization being promoted by extremist organizations and leaderships. Becoming a hub of terrorist activities, jihadist organizations, militant ideologies, and pro-Taliban madrasas during the period discussed here, we see Pakistan embroiled in combating terror and destruction unfolding within its own borders and cities. What emerges is a ‘Cinema on Terror’, inspired by the continuum of the political and ideological divisions and conflicts instigated by the ‘War on Terror’.

Obaid-Chinoy’s films illustrate the socio-political impact and consequences of the transforming nature of the US alliance with Pakistan, as the country journeyed from one US-backed military dictator, President General Zia-ul-Haq (1977–1988), to another, President General Pervaiz Musharraf (1999–2008). This contrast between the Pak–US pro-jihad and pro-Mujahideen stance during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the late 1970s, and their current anti-jihad and anti-fundamentalism alliance after the Al Qaida terrorist attacks on the US in 2001, highlight the internal transformations and challenges that have been shaping Pakistan’s own political and socio-economic landscape,and geo-political standing in the world. Together, these six thematically-linked topical documentaries form a filmic historical and contextual narrative of developments and trends towards religious militancy that continue to affect and mould domestic and international politics, and policies.

From Terror’s Children (2003) where we see victims and refugees of the US-led war in Afghanistan arrive in Karachi, to Reinventing the Taliban (2003) that depicts the emerging trend of Talibanization on Pakistani soil, to Obaid-Chinoy’s multi-award winning film, Pakistan’s Taliban Generation (2009), portraying the widespread madrasa culture, escalating violence, extremist Taliban ideologies, and recruitment and training of young children to become suicide bombers, we see Pakistan’s descent into Talibanization coming full circle. These young and vulnerable ‘armies of God’ now being mass-produced in Pakistani madrasas, ready for export to carry out deadly missions within, and abroad, sound a grim warning for the country’s own stability, and security worldwide.

Similarly, in Pakistan: On a Razor’s Edge (2004), we are given a picture of the complex and intense internal political and ideological strife that was beginning to take root in a nuclear-armed Pakistan during President Musharraf’s alliance with the US and the West in the ‘War on Terror’, and the ongoing complex relationship with neighbouring India.

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