LAHORE MIRROR — Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has issued a directive to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to engage with the UAE government regarding a private company that has organized a beauty contest using the name “Pakistan.”
This event has been selecting candidates to represent Pakistan in the Miss Universe Pageant, despite lacking official authorization from the Pakistani government, as reported by The News.
Earlier, Prime Minister Kakar had instructed the Intelligence Bureau (IB) to investigate the organization responsible for this pageant and its use of Pakistan’s identity on the global stage. Subsequently, the IB presented its findings to the prime minister.
The IB’s report revealed that a Dubai-based business group named Yugen Publishing and Marketing has secured the rights to represent Pakistan in the 2023 contest. The group has launched a platform, houseofyugen.com, where it invites applications from Pakistani females aged 24 to 28, irrespective of their marital status. This application process began on March 4, 2023. Interestingly, Yugen Publishing and Marketing also holds franchise rights for Miss Universe in Bahrain and Egypt.
Furthermore, the IB investigation unveiled that Pakistani participants were selected through a voting process from a pool of 200 applicants worldwide. The winner among the five finalists was announced at a ceremony on September 14, 2023.
The report also noted that in Dubai, the Yugen Group serves as the primary sponsor for this event, with an individual named Josh Yugen identified as the National Director for Miss Universe Pakistan. Additionally, the Yugen Group has partnered with the voting application ‘Choicely,’ allowing pageant enthusiasts to vote for their preferred contestants.
