Title: Pakistan Women of Courage Speak Out on Fundamentalism
Genre: Timely Documentary
Year: 2003
Running Time: 21 minutes (extra footage can be added to expand running time to appropriate                           broadcast length
Rating: NR
Technical Notes:

A Brand-New Documentary. Remarkable and Timely.

New! May 2003!

The opening scenes of this documentary chill your spine as we see the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, filled with men. No sign of women. Several street scenes, including images of demonstrations by countless fundamentalist groups that crowd the Pakistani political scene intercut the interviews with two remarkable Pakistani women newspaper editors.

First we meet Beena Sarwar, publishing editor of "News on Sunday" a working woman, obviously educated and of high intelligence and articulation. She thinks of herself like every other working woman struggling to manage her home, her family and dealing with male attitudes much like those over the entire world; except it 's harder in Pakistan because of the religious laws that prevail, especially the laws governing sex. Those laws, if broken, are considered crimes against the state. The state is Islamic, and it is mostly women who are charged in the misuse of law. So Beena Sarwar, who spares no effort in telling us the state of affairs, puts herself at considerable risk by speaking out on film. But she can do no less than let the world know what is kept secret, such as the religious party politics of Pakistan that have been funded by the CIA. The U.S. saw these funds as opposing Communism but failed to realize that they were creating another monster - Fundamentalism.

And on to another interview with Jugna Moshin editor of the liberal weekly "Friday Times". She too puts herself at risk, as she makes statements regarding government sponsored Islamic infiltration of the disputed Kashmir region; the testing and threat by India of a nuclear device. She also recalls a horrifying incident when the religious police dragged her husband away in the middle of the night for printing something to which they objected, and she was unable to find him anywhere for 14 days. She too was beaten and tortured.

This half-hour documentary has never been seen anywhere. It is a rare look at Pakistani politics, religion and gender through the eyes of these extraordinary women and the filmmaker. To understand our increasingly global word today, this must be seen.

1 x 21 half-hour program. Additional footage available to lengthen appropriately for broadcast.