Visa gets denied, Pakistani filmmaker unable to collect award in India

Pakistani filmmaker, Mahera Omar was denied  visa to India because of which she was unable to attend the 7th Delhi International Film Festival 2018 where she won the award for best documentary for ‘The Rebel Optimist’.She told through a phone call that the festival authorities too have tried to help her, but it is very difficult for a Pakistani to obtain a visa.Omar’s ‘The Rebel Optimist’ is about an urban planner and social activist, Perween Rahman, who headed the Orangi Pilot Project. It was a scheme that provided the poor people with solutions to their sanitation problems. Rahman was gunned down on 13th March, 2013 in Karachi.While telling about her wish to always travel to India, Mahera said, “I feel a sense of belonging. My ancestry is from there,’’. Her great-grandfather, Zafar Omar, who used to write detective fiction, was from Aligarh. Their home, Nili Chatri, still exists, but is now taken over by the Aligarh Muslim University.Mahera’s family wanted to visit India again someday after the partition, the thought is heartbreaking to her of never going back to connect with her ancestors. She added, “My aunt went to Aligarh a few years ago and found the house. The old family retainer was there. My great-grandfather’s picture was still up in his room. He looked at her and said to her ‘you are back.’ It is heartbreaking’’.After the death of the house’s caretaker, Mahera believes that she has lost the last thread to her past. She wants to reconnect with her origin by visiting the house, “But how do I go there,’’ she asks.Pakistan has claimed that India denied visas to over 500 pilgrims who wanted to take part in the Urs at Ajmer. Apart from that, Pakistani scholars have been denied the visa to attend a meeting of Association for Asian Studies and Ashoka University. In May, Moneeza Hashmi, daughter of noted Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, was invited to speak at the 15th Asia Media Summit, but was dropped from the list of speakers. Her booking at the hotel was cancelled as no Pakistani had been invited to the conference.Mahera was still able to virtually attend the ceremony, thanks to technology and friends from India, and was able to experience the taste of winning an award. She added while laughing, “There is people-to-people contact there,’’ referring that people of Pakistan and India want to build friendly relationship between both the countries.

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