By Mata Press Service

Showing skin in Pakistan is taboo.

But don’t tell that to Sonia Ahmed or her bevy of bikini rebels who are leading the charge to change how the world views Pakistani women and more importantly how Pakistanis treat their women.

“There is a saying that Pakistan has a beauty queen in each little street or neighborhood. The women of Pakistan have always remained hidden due to their cultural bounding,” said Ahmed, a Toronto resident who is the president of the annual Miss Pakistan World contest.

The bikini rebellion has sparked anger and fury in predominantly Muslim Pakistan which is notorious for taking a hard-line approach on the role of women across society.

One of the hardliner’s targets has been Indian Muslim tennis player Sania Mirza, who has come under fire for her tennis wear.

Islamic parties in Pakistan are also seeking to ban women in advertising – a move they claimed would strengthen the nation’s Islamic identity.

Speaking to The Asian Today, Ahmed said she holds little regard for those who bear negative attitudes to her organisation.

“Negativity has always surrounded us, especially from fundamentalists existing in our communities”, she says.

“We had to answer to religious fanatics and the so called self promoted community leaders, and we did and we put them in their place. Now the pressures are off, and these fundamentalists now know not to come in our way, and as time passed their numbers dwindled down as well.

“These people are a bunch of empty vessels that have learnt over the years to make a lot of noise, and before they used to be successful, but today, I can say they hold zero meaning to people like us.”

She says her organization is pivotal in not only challenging hard-line views in Pakistan, but is also an outlet for talented Pakistani women across the world.

“The only reason Miss Pakistan World came into existence was because there was no beauty pageant existing in Pakistan”, she says.

“The reason behind an idea like this was to create a pool of talented Pakistanis all around the world. The other thing was that Pakistani girls had a lot of talent, some could dance, some could sing, most of them wanted to become models, but all this was not possible since there was no platform for them to be showcased and hence, Miss Pakistan World was put together with the support of these young women.”

Ahmed, who was born in Karachi and migrated to Canada in 1997, started Miss Pakistan Canada Inc. in 2002.

“We had no idea it would become so big,’’ she said.

Since 2002 the show has received on average of between 50-60 applicants each year from across the world, including Canada.

Only 15 are chosen to proceed to the main event and with audience show members exceeding 600, the contest is getting bigger each year. Winners have included Sonya Zia, the youngest contestant to win the coveted prize at 17, current Miss Pakistan World Sehr Mahmood, who is a British national, and Mariyah Moten – a name that made headlines in August when she was publicly slammed by Culture Ministry official Chaudhry Hafeez after winning the ‘Best in Media’ title at the ‘Miss Bikini of the Universe 2006’ in China.

Current Miss Pakistan World, Sehr Mahmood, who was the recent Miss Earth 2006 pageant in Manila she said her objective was to “educate people and other delegates about Pakistan, and to let them know that Pakistan is becoming a very modern country and to remove any misconceptions”.

She adds: “I was in Manila on the one and only mission to educate the girls who are coming from different countries in the world about Pakistan and the true people of Pakistan. “Pakistan is not perceived in the right way in the world and it’s because of these extremists and so called pseudo intellectuals. This is what we want to change.

Whether Ahmed and her bikini rebels can achieve their ultimate objective of staging a beauty pageant in Pakistan remains to be seen.

But the leader of scantily-clad committed lot said she will remain defiant despite protests from Pakistan and in Canada.

“Let people say what they want. Our mission is to put Pakistani girls on the international beauty map,” she said.