Lal Masjid cleric's foundation moves court against beauty pageant

Says fashion events, dance and singing contests and TV dramas against norms and values of Pakistani society

ISLAMABAD: The Shuhada Foundation, which is affiliated with Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday seeking a ban on the Miss Veet Pakistan beauty pageant.

Tariq Asad, the president of the foundation, maintained in the petition that the 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 also submitted that the beauty pageant would 'Indian-ise' 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," he 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."

The petitioner said fashion and modelling 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.



The Shuhada Foundation handles all of Maulana Abdul Aziz’s interactions with the media and his court cases.

Aziz was suspended as the Lal Masjid khateeb (prayer leader) by the authorities in 2004 and his nephew Aamir Siddique was appointed as the deputy khateeb of the mosque in 2007. Siddique has been the official prayer leader of the mosque since then.

There is also an internal rift over the control of the mosque as Siddique has distanced the mosque from the Shuhada Foundation, which insists it represents both Aziz and the mosque.

Aziz also remains under observation of the authorities as he remains on the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.