- Miss World Contest to Include Events in Occupied Kashmir
- India Promotes Tourism in the Disputed Region
- Controversy Surrounds the Beauty Pageant’s Objectification of Women
Miss World will be conducted in the disputed territory of occupied Kashmir as part of a month-long series of events across India, according to the contest’s organizers.
More than a million Indian citizens visited the mountainous disputed region last year, as a result of India’s efforts to promote tourism in the area.
In November and December, Miss World Organisation chair Julia Morley announced that India would host a month-long series of events for the annual international beauty pageant, with a portion of the schedule taking place in occupied Kashmir.
“This is a blessed place for tourism,” Morley told reporters in Srinagar, the region’s capital, on Monday.
After “talent exhibitions, athletic challenges, and charitable initiatives,” the organisation will choose December finale participants.
The contest “celebrates the beauty, intelligence, and humanitarian efforts of women,” according to the contest’s organizers.
In the past, critics have argued that the pageant perpetuates the objectification of women and contributes to a beauty industry that places pressure on women to appear a certain way.
In May, India hosted a G20 tourism meeting in Srinagar under strict security to demonstrate that “normalcy and peace” had returned to the region following a massive crackdown in the wake of New Delhi’s 2019 revocation of the region’s limited autonomy.
Critics also assert that the Indian government has severely restricted civil liberties by criminalizing dissent, restricting media freedoms, and restricting public demonstrations.
Miss World 2022, Karolina Bielawska, remarked that the landscape of Kashmir left her speechless.
“I cannot wait to greet 140 nations, as well as all my friends and family, to India and to show them places such as Kashmir, Delhi, and Mumbai… Monday, the Polish model said, “You have so many beautiful places.”
