LAHORE, June 12: The question of importing Indian movies should reach the stage of decision making as a proposal by the Senate’s Cultural Committee on the issue is to be presented to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad on Monday.

Suggestions by the committee are said to be couched in sympathy for the film industry of Pakistan and are ostensibly aimed at resolving the crisis it currently faces through the import of a specific number of Indian-films and investing profits from their screening in Pakistan in the uplift of film making in the country.

According to official the proposal to be presented by the chairman of the Senate Committee for culture, sports, tourism and youth affairs already has the blessings of President Pervez Musharraf.

A section of the industry led by exhibitors and producers associations of Pakistan has been demanding import of Indian movies for about two years but the government did not accept their contention that it was the only way of redeeming the national industry, mainly because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

Another factor creating doubts among decision-makers has been the position taken by many senior producers and directors of the industry who oppose the imports on cultural, political and professional grounds and argue that they would not only negate the industry’s struggle against Indian movies since 1954 but also sound the death knell for indigenous cinema.

Leading personalities among the protagonists of imports are chairman of Exhibitors Association Zoraiz Lashari and Producers Association chairman Mian Amjad Farzand while its antagonists include leading directors Sangeeta, Syed Nur, Director’s Association chairman Aslam Dar and Pakistan Movie Artists Association chairman actor Yusuf Khan.

The Senate Committee has suggested import of five Indian movies in a year on the basis of auctioned licence for each film with the assurance that every import would ensure screening of one Pakistani movie in some of the leading Indian cities.