So the almost-historic-but-not-quite discussion session between the Maoists' women rights representatives and this year's Miss Nepal contestants took place on July 29 at the premises of  International club, Sanepa. And the protestors put forth a 19 point sum up of why Beauty pageants must be banned. This is what they had to say...

Miss Nepal must be stopped because.....

1.The pageant's ultimate goal is to use women as tools or objects in advertisements for various products. 

2.Beauty is nature-given. And therefore what is natural can never be judged or put to compete. 

3.This contest stands against Nepali culture and tradition. 

4.For a country whose majority of citizens live under the poverty line, this competition is way too expensive for all Nepalese. 

5.The one-year contract that the winners sign after winning the crown is a violation of their basic human rights to be free. 

6.The pageant is not a platform for opportunities, the girls are being fooled. 

7.This pageant does not basically help the winners to help the society it rather gives them a platform to cheat work, a shortcut to name, fame and money. 

8.This pageant bogs down the young minds in a world of fantasies eventually triggering their tendencies to use drugs and go for other kinds of criminal activities or even commit suicide. 

9.This pageant gives a message that "to be a woman, one has to be beautiful and only the beautiful are real women". 

10.And that message indirectly adds fuel to domestic violence, rape and murders of women.  

11.Even if it looks as if international agencies are aiding the contest, the truth really is that the pageant is run by government tax. 

12.And so the national capital goes to the hands of foreign country. 

13.The pageant shifts away the focus from the common wish of those suffering from lingual, gender, caste, creed and nativity issues that would be talked about in the Constituent Assembly. 

14.The pageant  hurts the sentiments and pride of women living across the country. 

15.Civilization is about wearing clothes and when the contestants walk on the ramp half-naked, it dishonors women virtue. 

16.The government should be responsible to provide jobs to women, not this sort of beauty pageants. 

17.We've been raising our voices against this pageant since almost two decades now, and despite of it, the organizers have shown little concern and have been running the pageant without our consent. 

18.Use of inappropriate sub-titles such as best smile, best figure etc  for the contestants is wrong. 

19.And finally, this pageant must be banned because it opens a platform only to young, raw minded youth.

Since the contestants weren't given much of an opportunity to defend their stand or explain much on why the protestors' could be wrong, we have yet to see how the contestants will be hitting back. Explaining why the maoists' representatives were allowed to speak more than the contestants', organizers the Hidden Treasure said, "It's always a good thing to have patience and listen more than talk. And since the protesting party has opened their mouth more, does that not make it easier for us to pin point where they have gone wrong, making our stand stronger?"

They have assured of second rounds of talks. We shall keep you informed if it'll ever happen. And yet again, since the Maoists have already got what they wanted, an upper hand in this anti-beauty pageant mania that is, we really doubt if they'll ever agree to appear in front of these contestants again.

We shall wait and watch!