Miss Pakistan World

Miss Pakistan World is a beauty pageant for women of Pakistani descent from around the world. The event used to be held in Toronto, Canada but has moved to Pakistan and is held annually in Lahore, Pakistan.
History
Canada & USA
The pageant was originally launched in 2002 by Sonia Ahmed under the name of Miss Canada Pakistan. The organizers held the event in Canada due to security concerns and the general attitude towards pageants held by the Pakistani public. The pageant has taken place in Canada every year since with the exception of 2014, which was held in New Jersey. The first Miss Pakistan World to be crowned was Zehra Sheerazi on 1 February 2003.
Pakistan
In 2020, during Covid-19, the Miss Pakistan World pageant moved to Lahore, Pakistan. The first Miss Pakistan World to be crowned on the soil of Pakistan in August 2020 was Areej Chaudhary.
On 23 May 2021, Miss Pakistan World announced that it would allow trans women to compete in a separate pageant called Miss Trans Pakistan. Shyraa Roy became the first trans woman to win the Miss Trans Pakistan 2021 title.
On Jan 31, 2022, the crowning ceremony was held in a much bigger way and new titles were introduced; Miss Pakistan Universal, Miss Pakistan Supreme, Miss Pakistan National, Miss Pakistan Global, Ms. Pakistan Universe, Mrs. Pakistan Universal, Mr. Pakistan Universal and Mr. Pakistan Global.
In 2022, the first Christian girl, Dr. Shafaq Akhtar was crowned Miss Pakistan Universal in Lahore, and went on to compete in 3 international pageants and since then brought back two winning titles for Pakistan. She is scheduled for 2 more international pageants in the coming months.
On May 31, 2023, the crowning ceremony was held in Lahore, Pakistan and 8 new girls were crowned including the next transgender girl crowned on the soil of Pakistan, Alina Khan.
On May 31, 2023, one of the first Pakistani girl of Bangladeshi decent, Dr. Kapotaqkhy Chanchala was crowned Miss Pakistan Universal 2023. She has represented Pakistan in the Miss World Tourism 2023 in Sri Lanka and will be representing Pakistan in Miss Earth 2023 in Vietnam as Miss Earth Pakistan 2023.
Titleholders
Miss Pakistan World
Mrs Pakistan World
Mrs. Pakistan World (Urdu: مسز پاکستان ورلڈ ) is a beauty pageant hosted in Toronto for married women of Pakistani descent. The contest was launched in 2007 with Misbah Yasin–Iqbal being the first winner. Saiyma Haroon, Mrs. Pakistan World 2012 was the first Pakistani married woman to win from Norway. In 2018, Usma Kashaf was sent to Lady of Brilliancy in Taiwan and won the title "Lady of Popularity" for Pakistan. In 2020, Ravish Zahid–Thomas became the first Catholic Pakistani to win Mrs. Pakistan World.
In 2022 the first Mrs. Pakistan World was crowned on the soil of Pakistan. Nida Khan was the first married woman at age 26 to be crowned in Lahore, Pakistan. In 2023 the winner of Mrs. Pakistan World 2023 was Fatima Fakhar.
Miss Trans Pakistan
On 23 May 2021, the first Miss Trans Pakistan was announced. The crowning ceremony took place in Lahore, Pakistan on 25 May 2021.
Editions
In January 2022, Sonia Ahmed began the first pageant on Pakistani soil in Lahore, Pakistan. This was initiated after the successful launch of the Miss Trans Pakistan pageant on 25 May 2021. The ceremony for the winners of Miss Pakistan, Mrs. Pakistan and Mr. Pakistan took place on 31 January 2022.
Pakistan & Overseas Edition 2023
The Miss Pakistan 2023 ceremony took place at the Grand Palm Hotel in Lahore, Pakistan and the new titleholders were crowned by Areej Chaudhary and Dr. Shafaq Akhtar.
In the month of July 2023, Dr. Kapotaqkhy Chanchala, Miss Pakistan Universal 2023 was sent to Miss World Tourism 2023 in Sri Lanka and will be representing Pakistan in the Miss Earth 2023 pageant to be held in Vietnam.
Pakistan & Overseas Edition 2022
The 2022 edition took place at the Alladin's Lounge in Gulberg, Lahore on the 31st of January 2022.
In September 2022, Dr. Shafaq Akhtar represented Pakistan in Miss Aura International 2022 in Turkey, and was sent to Miss Planet International 2023 held in Vietnam in the month of January. She won the title of Miss Humanity in Miss Planet and had also won the title of Miss Rixos Sungate (a sponsor title) in Miss Aura International. She later participated in Miss Elite 2023 in Egypt but did not win any title.
Big Four pageants representatives
The following women have represented Pakistan in two of the Big Four international beauty pageants major international beauty pageants for women.
Miss Earth Pakistan
Following are the representatives of Miss Earth Pakistan at Miss Earth pageant.
Controversies
The pageant has been criticized by Pakistani feminist Amna Buttar of the Asian-American Network Against Abuse of Human Rights, who wrote in an email to the New York Times, "In Pakistan, we are trying to get basic rights for women: right to marry, right to divorce, equal opportunity for job and education, and issues like Miss Pakistan create problems for this movement. An average Pakistani young woman does not want to wear a bikini in public, and for her it is important to have equal opportunity and all focus should be on that, and not on a pageant where only the elite can participate." Sonia Ahmed, the president of Miss Pakistan World, defended the event as a movement for self-expression, saying that the participants have the freedom to do as they wish. In 2006, Culture Ministry official Abdul Hafeez Chaudhry questioned the wearing of bikinis to represent Pakistan.
In 2010 the organizers were criticized for holding the pageant in Ramadan and during the 2010 Pakistan floods.
See also
Sonia Ahmed
Mrs. Pakistan World
Miss Trans Pakistan
Miss Earth Pakistan
Miss Grand Pakistan
Miss Pakistan Universal
References
External links
Miss Pakistan World website
Mrs Pakistan World
Miss Trans Pakistan website
Pakistani awards
Women in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan
Beauty pageants in Pakistan
Beauty pageants for people of specific ethnic or national descents