Pakistan film critic yet to get visa for the fest

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pakistani film critic Aijaz Gul, a jury member of the 16th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that began here on Friday, is unable to reach the state capital to attend the gala event, as the Union home ministry is yet to clear his visa. Aijaz Gul is part of the FIPRESCI jury (International Federation of Film Critics), along with Mexican director Roberto Donati and Indian film critic Vidyasankar, at the IFFK.
With the IFFK authorities finding it difficult to get Gul's visa cleared, Shashi Tharoor MP has now taken up the issue with the Centre. Though the ministry of external affairs has cleared the visa, it is now pending before the home ministry. "The stringent visa regulations are badly affecting such functions. These functions need political clearance from the Centre first, which only can speed up things in the home ministry," said a spokesman from Tharoor's office.
Gul being a Pakistani national, the home ministry has passed his details to the Indian embassy in Pakistan for verification. Both the RAW and IB will have to clear his name before his visa is approved by the home ministry. "In such cases the regulation stipulates that visa applications should be submitted at least six months in advance. But for such functions, the applications are given at the penultimate hour," informed Tharoor's office. However, IFFK authorities are confident that the Pakistani critic will be reaching the festival venue in a day or two. "We have taken up the issue with the Union government and all the hurdles will be cleared soon," said IFFK director Beena Paul.
Gul's visa fiasco is not an isolated case in this year's IFFK. A six-member delegation from Iran too had to face a similar situation. But it was resolved after the IFFK authorities sought the help of Tharoor in getting the visas cleared. The movies of the six Iranian filmmakers -- Houman Ahmadi Tofighi, Hamidreza Aligholian, Majid Rezakhan, Esmaeil Aghajani, Katayoon Ghasemzadeh Tehrani and Kiarash Ahmadi Tofighi -- are being screened at the festival. The others who got caught in the visa hurdle are the chairperson of the IFFK jury and Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford, film director from Chad and a jury member of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Mahamet Saleh Haroun, Colombian filmmaker Carlos Cesar Arbalaez and Japan's Silvana Petkovic.