Petition in Islamabad court calls for banning beauty pageant
ISLAMABAD: An organisation linked to the controversial Lal Masjid has approached Islamabad High Court to ban a beauty pageant sponsored by a skin care company, saying it would “Indianise” Pakistan.
Tariq Asad, the president of the Shuhada Foundation, said the Miss Veet Pakistan pageant was against the values of Islam and Pakistan.
“This product [manufactured by the sponsor] aims at and advertises asking women to remove body hair to make themselves more sexually appealing to the opposite gender which is fundamentally shameful and against the injunction of Shariah,” the petition read.
The petitioner submitted that the beauty pageant would ‘Indianise’ the culture of Pakistan and it should not be allowed to be run on TV.
“It [the pageant] would serve as a launching pad for beauty contests [that are] common in many western countries,” Asad submitted.
“Family ties would break and the values of society would deteriorate. If it [the pageant] is allowed to continue, it would degenerate the roots of our society’s culture,” he added in the petition.
The petitioner said fashion events, dance and singing contests and TV dramas were against the norms and values of the Pakistani society.
“Almost all channels are bent on tarnishing the culture of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The electronic media has become a red light screen,” he maintained.
Though the petition has been filed, the court is yet to take it up to consider its maintainability.