Miss Pakistan Yanked From Pageant

Organizers disqualified a woman from a beauty pageant in Tokyo after Pakistani officials objected to her representing the country, saying participation in the contest denigrated Islam and brought shame to Pakistan, officials said Sunday.

Pakistani authorities told contest officials to prohibit Neelum Noorani from participating in the Miss International competition scheduled to start Monday, Pakistan's Culture Secretary Tariq Janjua told The Associated Press.

Janjua said the 21-year-old woman had falsely identified herself as Miss Pakistan. Beauty pageants are prohibited in Pakistan, an overwhelmingly Muslim country.

In Tokyo, a spokesman for the International Culture Association hosting the competition said he was unaware that Pakistan had not formally offered a candidate and assumed her candidacy was valid until they were contacted by Pakistani officials.

Spokesman Satoshi Tabuchi said Noorani suddenly pulled out of the pageant after press reports of her participation surfaced in Pakistan over the weekend. He said contest organizers had disqualified her in any case.

Noorani could not be immediately reached for comment and pageant officials said she had checked out of her Tokyo hotel room.

The news brought a mixed reaction from Pakistanis, who have never witnessed a pageant held in their country.

"She (Noorani) can participate in her private capacity. She should not use Pakistan's name," said Mohammad Sharif Hazarvi, a senior member from the radical Islamic group, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) party.

The JUI supported the fundamentalist Taliban in Afghanistan, which banned Afghan woman from and jobs ordered they cover fully cover themselves.

Meanwhile, other Pakistanis said they saw no problem with a woman representing Pakistan as a contestant.

"I don't think the government should have stopped it," said a video rental store owner who gave his name only as Amir.