The films presented in 90-second and 5-minute categories. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
As many as 50 films were short listed from 15 universities all across Pakistan to participate in a festival to involve the youth in awareness of issues pertaining to taxation and unjustified taxes in particular.
The Youth Film Festival was organised by Oxfam Novib Pakistan, Indus Consortium and Centre for Inclusive Growth at the Pakistan National Council of Arts on Tuesday, where the films were categorised into two main categories; the 90-second and 5-minute.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, Oxfam Novib Programme Manager Asim Jaffrey said it is important to involve the youth and create awareness among them about the tax injustice that has been prevailing in the country.
“The rich are not taxed, while the poor are burdened by various taxes; that is just unfair,” he said. He added that the best part of the competition is that the candidates come from diverse backgrounds, like students of Kinnaird in Lahore, and those from places like Badin.
“The students have done a great job, and it feels great to see their maturity when it comes to issues of taxes, and the disparity that it creates in society,” he said. Jaffrey said there is a need for 100,000 jobs for youth every month, with only 19,000 getting such work, leaving the rest “disappointed” and being “lead astray”. “Involving them in constructive activities and work is the only way to increase our current GDP,” he said.
The videos, despite being on the same topic, ranged in theme and storyline; some feature the problems faced by students due to taxes, others focused on the way farmers are being affected. The films also highlighted how the rich are not appropriately taxed.
Amir Daud, a student of Arid Agriculture University, told The Express Tribune that this filmmaking competition was a learning experience for him and his peers. “Not only did we learn the intricacies of filmmaking, but it also made us think about how taxes pressurise the common man; and how that deviates from taxation’s real purpose: to make life easy for the entire nation,” he said.
“It gives us great pleasure that students and universities have participated in this competition wholeheartedly, and the competition made students think about the process and real aim of taxation. The issue of budget and tax is not a technical issue, but a public issue because it affects the common man”, said Hussain Jarwar, National Coordinator at Indus Consortium.
Jawad Ahmed, singer and ambassador of the Tax Justice Campaign, said that there is a need to talk about human rights in Pakistan and that tax injustice is a breach of them.
“The middle class needs to be involved in issues such as taxation, because it is the revolutionary class. All revolutions in history have been brought by the middle class, because neither extremes of the society have the power to bring a massive change,” he said.
Students of Kinnaird College, International Islamic University, Arid Agriculture University, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Lahore College, Sindh University Jamshoru, Mardan University and several other higher educational institutes participated in the festival.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2015.
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