Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali has ordered authorities to crack down on fashion shows because they are un-Islamic and give Pakistan a bad image, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.
An interior ministry order dated October 25 was carried by Wednesday's The News daily, directing hotels and officials to put an end to the gala parades that are a regular event at city hotels.
"It has been observed that different functions are organised under the garb of fashion shows at leading hotels of the provinces and federal capital, which militate against our national culture and Islamic values," the order said, according to the newspaper."
Such activities are not reflective either of our culture or heritage and subsequently paint the government in bad light.
"The prime minister has taken serious notice of such undesirable activities and has directed that the administration and hotel management be issued strict instructions to avoid recurrence of such programmes, which are not in consonance with Islamic values and norms of decency."
The directive doesn't specifically state why it objects to such shows, but anything that involves the flaunting of women is usually frowned upon in Islamic Pakistan.
Four-star hotels in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and even the Islamist-ruled northwest city Peshawar regularly stage fashion shows featuring models wearing the creations of local designers.
A show at an Islamabad hotel last month attracted wide media attention because it coincided with the Muslim holy night of Shab-e-Barat and national cricket players and officials attended.
The team lost a one-day match to South Africa the next day, triggering further criticism of the cricketers' attendance.
Fundamentalist Islamists gained a huge swing of support at national elections last year. They now rule the two western provincial parliaments and dominate the federal opposition.
Jamali heads a coalition of secular, military-backed parties which rules with only a slim majority and has been courting the support of Islamists for the past year.
