Soldiers set for celebrity status
Emotive tales of 11 “brave Pakistanis” battling militancy, will air on the small screen in an army-funded drama that casts the anti-terror fight in a positive light. Focused on the heroism of soldiers fighting a key air and ground offensive in Swat valley in 2009, one tale looks at the deeds of soldier Hawaldar Naeem Asghar who died fighting an insurgent checkpoint.
Asghar, portrayed as a hardworking soldier from peasant roots, sacrifices his life to overcome Taliban dug in to a hilltop, during operations in the town of Mingora to flush militants from the picturesque valley.
Throwing grenades from his bunker without success, Asghar is depicted abandoning cover and climbing the hill, tossing more explosives on his way as bullets rain down from the rebels’ post.
The checkpoint is destroyed, but Asghar is killed.
“Hawaldar Asghar’s story is a common man’s story. It’s a message to the public that everybody can play a role in the fight against extremism,” says Sajjad Saji, one of the drama serial’s writers. “It is filmed to encourage the common people in this war,” he adds.
“The basic purpose is to reveal the deeds of bravery of our soldiers, officers and civilians who are at the front of this war.... This drama shows the human face of the war,” says ISPR spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas.
“The nation should own these stories of bravery and sacrifice, they should be proud of our sons and daughters of the land who created these true stories with their blood and defended the motherland,” he said.
One of the filmmakers, who would not be named, said the high-end production was a “multi-million-dollar” effort, but refused to put a precise figure on costs.
The production, peppered with special effects, was filmed amid rugged verdant hills and forests close to the Swat valley.
“We travelled extensively to film this serial. A crew of more than 35 people with trucks of luggage roamed in the forests and hills for months to show the reality,” said Khawar Azhar, the show’s executive producer.
Television productions are one of the tools adopted by the military’s publicity wing to polish its image and boost recruitment and morale at a key juncture in anti-Taliban efforts and with religious conservatism on the rise.
The television drama depicts the bitter divide between Pakistan’s opposing cultures as the moderate middle class fights religious extremism in a country fractured by deep regional political divide.
In other episodes the film makers show the victims of Taliban power – one girl is subject to brutal gang rape by militants, while in another a young boy is brain-washed into becoming a suicide bomber.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2011.
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