Please help if you can.

Dear Friends,

The last two years have been a very rocky one for the KaraFilm Festival. We had been forced to postpone the 7^th KaraFilm Festival twice in 2007 and 2008 because of issues related to the security environment as well as a continuing political upheaval in the country that perhaps did not allow government officials to find time to address any of our critical concerns. This was disappointing not only for all the tens of thousands of people who look forward to the Festival each year but also for us, who had invested so much time and effort – all of it on a purely voluntary basis – in gathering films, making selections, securing venues, building linkages with filmmakers and institutions, and preparing for the spectacle that is the KaraFilm Festival. We have done it continuously for the last eight years because we feel this is important, for arts and culture in Pakistan and for the city of Karachi. If there is one thing you can be sure of, it is that the Festival not being held over the last two years was not due to a lack of effort or will on our part.

When we grudgingly rescheduled the Festival for February this year, we knew in our hearts that this was our final chance to salvage the Festival. We understood perfectly that the prestige and credibility that we had worked so hard over the last eight years to attain for the Festival, could not survive another postponement. Unfortunately, we have now been hit by the disaster that is the global economic recession. Most of our sponsors, including our title sponsor, have backed out of their commitment to support the Festival citing the economic downturn. Even more unfortunately, this has been done at the very last minute, leaving us little time to raise the funds required for the Festival.

So does this mean we are not going to have the Festival? No. A thousand times no! We have seen what the Festival is capable of achieving. We have seen how the Festival has revitalized a cinema culture in Pakistan, built bridges between Pakistani and international filmmakers, initiated an environment of debate and inter-cultural tolerance, and encouraged creativity especially among the youth. And we have given too much of our lives and have too many hopes for it to let it die. We intend to go through with the Festival on the scheduled dates (Feb 4-15) even if it means we have to drastically scale back the Festival and its activities, cut down on venues and film screenings, and apologize to invited guests for being unable to bring them to Karachi. We will have the Festival regardless but how much of it we can pull off depends entirely on how much we can afford. We intend to carry on against all the odds.

It is in this context that I write to you now. We are putting in all the resources at our disposal to run a very barebones Festival and are still coming up short. We still need to raise some 5 million rupees. Simply put, we need all the financial help we can get at this time. I realize that these are not easy times for anyone but, perhaps, if all those thousands of people who support the Festival and its aims were to contribute even as little as 1,000 rupees each, we can raise enough to pull this off. So if you would like to see this Festival continue, I hope you will consider backing up your good intentions with cash and becoming a supporter.

What I can assure you is this: all of your contributions will be utilized only for the costs of the 7^th KaraFilm Festival and will be acknowledged and accounted for. And that we will continue the fight.

I hope we can count on you.

Onwards!

Hasan Zaidi

Festival Director

KaraFilm Festival

If you would like to contribute, you can:

Make a cash or cheque donation directly at the KaraFilm Festival offices:

Indieville Level 2, 14-C Khayaban-e-Bokhari, DHA Phase 6, Karachi 75400, Pakistan.
Tel: +92-21-5344477; Fax: +92-21-5345954

Wire Transfer your contribution to:

KaraFilm Society

Account No. 145101010008673 / Muslim Commercial Bank
Khayaban-e-Saadi Branch (Branch Code 1451)
Clifton, Karachi 75600, Pakistan.
Swift Code: MUCBPKKA

(Please do email us at karafilm.festival@gmail.com or fax us to let us know so we may verify with the bank)

Following is a chat log between a Pakistani and an Indian who became friends on the net sometime before the Mumbai Attacks. They both teach us something very valuable. May Allah incite such spirit amongst all of us.

[The chat has been pasted as is, devoid of any additions or rectifications, except for the change of names]

Anand: busy ho?

Ahmad: not much

Ahmad: kee haal hai twada

Anand: k bro

Anand: ind-pak bhai bhai

Anand: kya ho raha hai waha pe

Anand: across the border

Anand: tension hain?

Ahmad: tension on and off scene
still better situation than before

Anand: cool

Anand: zadari kaisa hai?

Anand: usa aur india ke allegations on the bombay blasts, have turned against pakistan

Anand: with all due respect bro

Anand: its a sensitive issue

Ahmad: I understand that the sentiment in india at a lot of places is going against pakistan.

its also a good oppurtunity for right wing extremists to avail

everyone in pakistan is disgusted by the attacks. we’ve been experiencing this for years now so one can understand.

it just happened a coupe of months ago at marriot in islamabad.

what i’ve read until now
they the allegations have come mostly from india

the US has played neutral and have diffused the issue.
it has also been stated by indian officials that they never said that it was organized by the Pakistan per se, but a terrorist group which is known to have operatied from pakistan

however, that has still been unclear. evidence is still being awaited.
some say they’re from hyderabad deccan
some say they were from mossad

Ahmad: whoever they are
ones thing for sure. such people are a danger to everybody and can spark other bloody battles

Ahmad: how are things in your city..? Read more »

Picked up from GoatMilk, first printed in the South Asia Tribune in May of 2003. This same report was removed from the US CentCom website and reposted on the US Information Clearinghouse Website:

This is the first official estimate of losses suffered by Pakistan, given by the US military high command and analysts say these figures could now be used extensively by the anti-American political forces in Pakistan to pressurize General Pervez Musharraf and his Government to explain his Taliban U-Turn and justify what Pakistan received in return.

The Centcom figures are far in excess of what Pakistani Government officials and experts have been claiming, the highest claim being US$ 2-3 billion. In contrast, what the US has offered to Pakistan so far, a US$ 1 billion write-off of loans, looks like as spoon of tomato ketchup in place of a full fledged state banquet.

“This is a goldmine of political ammunition for the religious right wing forces, like the MMA, to blast the US and the Musharraf Government,” one analyst said.

These figures have been revealed in a detailed review of Pakistan’s role in the operation and are specifically mentioned under the title “Effects of Operation Enduring Freedom on Economy of Pakistan” at the US Centcom web site, a huge resource about the US and coalition activities under the Command.

“Operation Enduring Freedom adversely affected the already fragile economy of Pakistan. Major losses were caused to the civil aviation, tourism, investment and shipping due to rise in the rates of insurance,” the Centcom site data says.

But more mind boggling are the other stats revealed by the Centcom about use of Pakistani air and ground space and facilities provided for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). For instance, the CentCom data reveals that:

• Pakistan provided five air bases/airfields. However in emergency planes could land anywhere in Pakistan.
• On the average 400,000 liters of fuel per day was provided to US.
• A total of 57,800 sorties were generated from Pakistan’s air space/soil.
• In order to facilitate launching of air ops into Afghanistan, Pakistan provided 2/3rd of its air space as air corridor to the US/Coalition Forces. By so doing, Pakistan had to reschedule/ redirect many of its commercial flights.
• Pakistan Navy provided landing facility to the US/Coalition ships at Pasni.
• At sea, Pakistan Navy operations/training were curtailed in order to accommodate and facilitate the operations of US/Coalition Naval Forces.
• According to the US Marine Corps Gazette of June 2002, the Coalition Naval Operations at Pasni were the largest amphibious operations in size, duration and depth that the Marine Corps had conducted since the Korean War.
• In all, 8,000 Marines, 330 vehicles and over 1350 tons of equipment/logistic were off loaded at the beach and later flown to Kandahar from Pasni.

Besides these, in the War against Terrorism, according to the Centcom data, up to October 2002, the US side made 2,160 requests (of different nature) to Pakistan of which action on 2,008 was completed. Likewise 99 raids were conducted, 420 foreign nationals were apprehended of which 332 were handed over to the US, 34 were sent to other countries, 38 were released and 16 were under interrogation. Read more »

The United States and Pakistan reached tacit agreement in September on a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy that allows unmanned Predator aircraft to attack suspected terrorist targets in rugged western Pakistan, according to senior officials in both countries. In recent months, the U.S. drones have fired missiles at Pakistani soil at an average rate of once every four or five days.

The officials described the deal as one in which the U.S. government refuses to publicly acknowledge the attacks while Pakistan’s government continues to complain noisily about the politically sensitive strikes.

The arrangement coincided with a suspension of ground assaults into Pakistan by helicopter-borne U.S. commandos. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview last week that he was aware of no ground attacks since one on Sept. 3 that his government vigorously protested.

Officials described the attacks, using new technology and improved intelligence, as a significant improvement in the fight against Pakistan-based al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. Officials confirmed the deaths of at least three senior al-Qaeda figures in strikes last month.

Zardari said that he receives “no prior notice” of the airstrikes and that he disapproves of them. But he said he gives the Americans “the benefit of the doubt” that their intention is to target the Afghan side of the ill-defined, mountainous border of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), even if that is not where the missiles land.

Civilian deaths remain a problem, Zardari said. “If the damage is women and children, then the sensitivity of its effect increases,” he said. The U.S. “point of view,” he said, is that the attacks are “good for everybody. Our point of view is that it is not good for our position of winning the hearts and minds of people.”

A senior Pakistani official said that although the attacks contribute to widespread public anger in Pakistan, anti-Americanism there is closely associated with President Bush. Citing a potentially more favorable popular view of President-elect Barack Obama, he said that “maybe with a new administration, public opinion will be more pro-American and we can start acknowledging” more cooperation.

The official, one of several who discussed the sensitive military and intelligence relationship only on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S-Pakistani understanding over the airstrikes is “the smart middle way for the moment.” Contrasting Zardari with his predecessor, retired Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the official said Musharraf “gave lip service but not effective support” to the Americans. “This government is delivering but not taking the credit.” Read more »