Miss Veet beauty contest: IHC directs PEMRA to produce record of last year’s show

To decide maintainability of petition after reviewing record

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Tuesday to produce compact discs (CDs) containing previous year’s episode of the Miss Veet Pakistan beauty and modelling contest by September 11.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui directed the electronic media watchdog to submit programme data of the previous year before the next date of hearing while hearing an application seeking interim relief against the programme on grounds that it’s against the religious, social and moral values of Pakistan.



The court would announce order over maintainability of petition after reviewing the record. The petitioner, Advocate Tariq Asad, has filed an application against the upcoming edition of the show on a private television channel.

The application is linked with a main petition seeking ban on the exhibition of programmes allegedly promoting ‘obscenity’ on Pakistani channels.



The main petition filed by the former general secretary of the IHC bar association Mohammad Waqas Malik had sought ban on the exhibition of programmes of competition of singing, dancing, fashion show and obscene advertisement being in violation of Articles 2-A, 14, 19 and 20 of the 1973 Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In addition, the petitioner had requested the court to direct them further to improve the standard and culture of TV media generally in consonance with the ideology of Pakistan and Article 19 of the Constitution. The petition is pending adjudication since March 11, 2014.

In the instant application, Advocate Tariq Asad has approached the IHC seeking ban on Miss Veet Pakistan beauty and modeling contest saying it was against the values of Pakistan and Islam.

The petitioner has maintained that this and other such TV shows were ‘Indianising the culture of Pakistan’ and hence television channels should be banned from airing this show.



“This product aims and advertised asking women to remove body hair to make themselves more sexually appealing to opposite gender which is fundamentally shameful and against the injunction of Shariah,” the petition says.

The petitioner said that the beauty contest would serve as a launching pad for beauty contests common in many western countries. He added that such shows would undermine the traditions and weaken the family structure in the country.

The petition read that the petitioner’s married daughter with three kids, who is professionally a doctor of medicine, has received a message on her cell phone inviting her for audition and giving inspiration to join the competition and win the award.

This is the extreme step taken by the management of the show, he said, adding that eventually the young girls from all over country would be ambitious to become Miss Veet Pakistan and most of them, if disallowed by their parents, would consequently rebel against their parents.

“Family ties would break and the values of society would deteriorate … Miss Veet Pakistan, if allowed to continue, would degenerate the roots of our society’s culture,” he maintained in the petition.

The petitioner said this and many other modeling shows; beauty, dance and singing contests; and TV dramas were violating the norms and values of Pakistani society.

“Almost all the channels with little exceptions are bent upon tarnishing the culture of Islamic Republic of Pakistan … Electronic media has become the red light screen,” he maintained.

Following the hearing, the case was adjourned till September 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2017.