|
Miss
Pakistan's Troubles, South Asian Womanhood
 |
|
"Miss
Pakistan", Neelam Noorani
|
By
Md. Zeyaul Haque, Special to IslamOnline
NEW
DELHI, Sept 28 (IslamOnline) - "The government has moved to save the nation
from this disgrace," Pakistani daily The News said today in a front page
story titled, "Beauty queen or an ultimate disgrace", while carrying
the picture of Noorani taking part in the pageant. "Miss Noorani, seen as a
disgrace by many Pakistanis, was wearing ceremonial strap prominently inscribing
"PAKISTAN", the daily said.
Pakistan
government has asked its diplomats in Tokyo to dissuade organisers of Miss
International Beauty contest on September 30 from allowing Ms. Noorani to
compete as "Miss Pakistan."
According
to the organisers, 51 girls from around the world would compete for the Miss
International crown on September 30 in Tokyo.
Pakistani
Government's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, Tariq Januja, called it
a shameful development. The government would not allow it because it was in
contrast to Pakistan's social and cultural values, he added.
"We
cannot allow this," Janjua said adding that such contests were in total
"contrast" to the social and cultural values of Pakistan. "Our
religion, Islam, also disapproves all such acts," Janjua said
The
organisers of Miss Pakistan don't seem to be greatly inhibited though. The only
concession to Islamic modesty they make is they don't ask contestants to catwalk
in a swimsuit. Judges have to use their discretion regarding the physical
proportions of the young women in loose clothes covering the body from neck to
ankle.
Much
of the outrage in Pakistan is regarding the swimsuit parade mandatory for all
international beauty pageants. Pak contest organisers follow the usual Pakistani
logic for organising such contests (of course, fully clothed).
One
of the Pakistani organisers says Pakistan, like India, is a nuclear armed
country. If India can have so many beauty queens, why can't we? That is like
saying if India can detonate a nuclear bomb, why can't we?
Common
Pakistanis (that may not include the Westernized class) are horrified at the
idea of a Muslim woman walking the ramp in a swimsuit. That is an outrage to the
Islamic idea of modesty.
Pakistan's
leading intellectual Akbar S Ahmad makes the pertinent point in his book
Postmodernism and Islam that the ubiquitous T shirt and blue jeans that
conquered much of the world as the preferred casual wear among both young men
and women failed to catch up in the Muslim world. That happened, says Ahmad,
because the idea of modesty is deeply rooted in the Islamic mind and Muslims
flinch from wearing body-hugging clothes.
Pakistan's
sibling rivalry with India is quite understandable. India does have a number of
women who have won beauty contests like Miss Asia, Miss World, and Miss
Universe. Young women like Ms. Noorani grew up seeing Indian women winning
contest after contest in international pageants.
Young
Pakistani women like Ms. Noorani wonder if the Indians, who speak the same
language, are of the same racial stock, and have the same habits as Pakistanis,
can do it, why can't the Pakistanis.
There
is one distinction, however. Hinduism, like the Greco-Roman paganism, is not
ideologically opposed to the public display of human form. Hindu iconography
often celebrates the beauty of uncovered human figure like the ancient Greeks.
However,
in the later ages, practised Hinduism moved towards covering most of a woman's
body, and even veiling the face.
Unlike
Pakistan, India has produced its own share of Miss World and Miss Universe women
over the decades. In the 1970s, there were Persis Khambata and Rita Faria; in
the 1990s, Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen, who brought home the crown.
Khambata
moved over to Hollywood to play small roles in films, while Rai and Sen played
more substantial roles in Bollywood, the Bombay film industry.
When
Rai and Sen brought home their titles they were severely criticised by feminists
for commercializing the female form. The criticism was regarding big modeling
contracts these women invariably get to advertise consumer products.
Even
harsher criticism came from Hindu rightist groups like Shiv Sena, which said
these women had cheapened Hindu womanhood. However, mainstream India, including
the political establishment, was fully supportive, taking the crowning of the
two women as an achievement for India.
Such
women use their fame to support popular causes like fight against AIDS, or
campaigning against landmines. That only gives them a wider support among common
people. Pakistan's Ms. Noorani has said she would support peace.
Leftists
and rightists in India find themselves in the same boat when it comes to
opposing beauty pageants. Leftists say it is merely a gimmick supported by
capitalists of the West to sell their products to Third World by showing the
faces of these beauty queens which they themselves anoint. No wonder, they say,
two Indian women simultaneously won World and Universe crowns at the time India
was switching over to market economy.
When
India hosted the Miss Universe in November 1996, Hindu rightists demonstrated
against what they said was Western cultural invasion. They were shooed away by
the police and the event passed off peacefully.
That
brings us back to the travails of the U.S.-based Pakistani Ms. Noorani. She is
not used to wearing swimsuits as she is a practicing Muslim. She does not drink
or date either. However, she thinks it perfectly all right to display the beauty
given by God. And that is precisely the source of her difficulties.
|
