Pakistan lifts ban on screening Indian films

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan yesterday lifted a ban on the import and screening of movies from neighbouring India after months of suspension amid tension over the disputed region of Kashmir.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb announced that the government would uphold a 2007 decision to lift a ban on importing Indian film content, adding that “the Pakistani film industry has been revived and strengthened” by Indian cinema.

Nasar Khan from Hum Films, which imports and screens Indian movies, welcomed the announcement.

Khan said his distribution company has applied for a so-called non-objection certificate, required for all films screened in Pakistan, for the latest film Kaabil, hoping it would be cleared today.

An attack by militants on an Indian army base in Kashmir in September triggered deadly border clashes between the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals, bringing cultural ties to a halt.

A blanket ban on Indian content in Pakistani media came into effect the following month. Despite this, Pakistan’s Film Exhibitors Association said it would resume screening Indian movies. “Cinemas in Pakistan will go bankrupt if they don’t,” said Aamir Haider of the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association.