Pakistanis are poking fun at a Berkley graduated beauty queen who recently told CNN that she 'condones' rather than 'condemns' the Mumbai attacks.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis are poking fun at a beauty queen who in an interview with CNN said she "condones" the Mumbai attacks.
Reigning Miss Pakistan World Natasha Paracha, a Berkley graduate, said she "condoned" the Mumbai attacks not once, but twice in an interview with CNN earlier this week.
"There are many silly, but well-meaning things she says during this interview For instance, that India and Pakistan have for many years been both 'friends' and 'colleagues', and that Natasha is somehow an ambassador 'to' Pakistan," wrote
blogger Kamil Yousuf.
The especially daft one was as follows: "The image of Pakistan has been threatened with these recent attacks and I feel that now as Pakistanis we have to stand up and condone
what has happened in the country of India and through these Mumbai attacks."
Yousuf wrote that though Paracha's use of the word "condone" appeared to be a slip of the tongue, she had used it again in the same interview when she said: "as an ambassador to my country Pakistan I feel that we as Pakistanis need to work together and Indians as well need to work and work on this friendship that we have and condone these attacks, thoroughly.
In his post titled "Dear Miss Pakistan World, the word is 'condemn', not 'condone'", Yousuf admitted that he did not know Pakistan had a 'Miss Pakistan World' by the name of Natasha Paracha or that she was the chairperson of Pakistani affairs with the United Nations International Renewable Energy Organisation.
"I was actually quite surprised on both counts nut surely, if you were going to appear on CNN wearing a Miss Pakistan sash, in order to give a statement on behalf of your
country in the midst of a political crisis, you would take the time to learn the difference between two fairly critical antonyms. You went to Berkeley, for God's sake," he wrote.
A blogger called hanginguppakistan.com. was however, surprised that CNN chose to speak to a beauty queen about politics. "How can you logically expect profound statements from pageant girls who constantly regurgitate lines about world peace?"
Paracha also said India and Pakistan had been "colleagues" for many years. When it was pointed out that India and Pakistan have been enemies for decades and asked if there is any sympathy for terrorists in her country, New York-based Paracha said, "I
wouldn't call India and Pakistan enemies...yes there has been cross-border tension but India and Pakistan have been working as friends and as colleagues for many years now."
Asked how she would tackle terrorism, Paracha talked about portraying Pakistani women as being strong. On prime minister Gordon Brown's recent observation that
three-quarters of serious terror plots being investigated by British authorities have links to Pakistan, she said: "These are non-state actors."
"Pakistan has been working to fight terrorism for a few years now and as president Zardari has said and prime minister Gillani has stated that we are going to work with the
world community to fight this terrorism," she added.
The much-talked about Miss Pakistan World pageant, which is in its sixth edition, is frowned upon by conservative forces in the country.
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