Zubair Qureshi
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day, German ambassador Bernhard Schlagheck and Ambassador of France Dr Marc Barety hosted a joint lunch for the female journalists of Pakistan at the premises of the Embassy of Germany.
The gathering offered a unique occasion to discuss the vital role that journalists play in every democratic society and the participants discussed and exchanged views on challenges media is facing today. These challenges range from corporate transformation processes, media regulations to guaranteeing safe, ethical and independent journalism.
Both the ambassadors underlined that the role of women in society was essential—not only from a social but also from an economic point of view. Like in other countries of the world, the gender gap in Pakistan should be reduced and eventually bridged. “However, today’s meeting again demonstrated that Pakistan has many senior journalists as well as promising young talents in its media sector who will surely be an inspiration for other women,” they further said.
Among the guests were some renowned female journalists including the 2019 Agahi laureates recognized in the fields like media ethics, human rights, entrepreneurship, identity and sports reorting as well as the founder and president of Agahi Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at encouraging investigative and independent journalism in Pakistan.
Ambassador of Germany Bernhard Schlagheck later in the day attended the opening ceremony of the 4th Edition of Women International Film Festival (WIFF) that will run at different venues in Islamabad (mostly university campuses) from March 10 to March 16. With the support of the German Cooperation in Pakistan, and in association with the Austrian Embassy, FACE, Serena Hotel and official radio partne FM-91, this year’s film festival is set to make its rounds at different university campuses across the twin cities. The festival will also travel to Peshawar for the first time.
While addressing the audience briefly on the occasion, the German ambassador hoped the film festival would serve to give the Pakistani audience a taste of the movies on a wide range of themes related to women issues and they will enjoy themselves watching these movies. Pakistani women he said are immensely talented and we must recognize their role and contributions in society.
While addressing WIFF Founder and Director Madeeha Raza said, “We are delighted with this year’s line-up of films featuring more Pakistani female filmmakers.”
While the goal has always been to empower women’s voices and vision from around the world, I am overjoyed that more than half of the films in our 2020 programme tell indigenous stories, she further said.
A lively panel discussion also held during the inaugural session on the theme of “Freedom of Speech and the Burden of Censorship.” Among the panelists included Documentary Filmmaker Tazeen Bari, Anthropologist and Documentary maker Samar Minallah, Member Censor Board, Safina Syma Khar and Madeeha Raza.
