FOR Pakistan, it was a moment to be proud of, and for Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy herself, it was nothing less than a triumph: on Sunday night, after a glittering Los Angeles ceremony, she once again brought home the coveted Oscar.

The win — she won another Academy Award in 2012, again for a film that highlights a pressing social issue in Pakistan — was in the category of Best Documentary-Short Subject, for her 2015 film A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness.

The documentary follows the experiences of Saba Qaiser, who was 18 when she was shot under the pretext of ‘honour’, yet lived and spoke out against this pernicious crime. Both the subject of the documentary and its director deserve to be commended.

Ms Chinoy has indeed established herself amongst the ranks of those Pakistani filmmakers, from Mushtaq Gazdar to Samar Minallah and Sabiha Sumar to name just a few, who have used their camera to highlight issues that society tends to paper over, and in some cases, even justify.

There is no doubt that Ms Chinoy’s film has brought the evil of honour killing in Pakistan into the international spotlight.

After the documentary was screened at Prime Minister House last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed that a renewed effort would be made to stamp out honour killings. Yet more than words will be required for this goal to be achieved.

Recent years have seen some successes in tightening the legal noose around those who perpetrate this form of violence. But beyond that, what is needed are successful prosecutions that can send out the signal that the country’s judicial system will under no circumstances tolerate this crime.

Beyond that, society itself has to be civilised and awareness levels raised across the board so that such antediluvian notions of pride and honour are recognised as appalling transgressions that go against people’s basic rights.

This crime has, after all, been reported from virtually all sections of society, regardless of education or income levels.

To end honour killings, in addition to taking on the more obvious challenges, Pakistan must alter the perceptions and discourse around gender disparity, as well as narratives of empowerment.

Given that such crimes now and then involve the Pakistani diaspora, it not merely the fact that ours is a developing country that is to blame; society itself needs a mirror to be held up to it.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2016