Pakistan hails country's first Oscar win

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The media today joined ordinary Pakistanis in hailing the country's first Oscar win by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, saying her documentary highlighting the courage of victims of acid attacks should spur the people to do more to tackle such problems.

Newspapers carried pictures of the 33-year-old Chinoy holding aloft the Oscar statuette at the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood on their front pages with headlines like Welcome to Pakistan, Oscar and Take a bow, Sharmeen.

The filmmaker's triumph was highlighted by Pakistanis on Facebook and Twitter as a positive development in a country that is often in the news for all the wrong reasons, including gruesome terrorist attacks and the oppression of women.

Chinoy and co-director Daniel Junge won in the short documentary category with Saving Face, which focuses on two survivors of acid attacks and British-Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad's work to restore their faces and lives.

The Express Tribune, which is based in Chinoy's hometown of Karachi, said in an editorial titled You have done us proud, Sharmeen! that her victory would be 'enjoyed by the entire country' and that the filmmaker 'may even end up becoming the face of a more liberal and tolerant Pakistan'.

Both the influential Dawn newspaper and Pakistan Today, in their editorials, said Chinoy's achievement would help shift the world media's attention away from problems that are usually associated with Pakistan, including a Taliban insurgency and corruption.

"Seeing Pakistan being talked about in such a positive context in the international press makes for a welcome change, prone as the country is to being discussed for myriad errors of omission and commission," the Dawn said.