Islamabad: A Pakistani beauty queen, who recently expressed a desire to date President Pervez Musharraf, is being chided for "bringing a bad name to Pakistan".

Reigning Miss Pakistan World, Mahleej Sarkari, surprised everyone last month by saying she "loved" Musharraf and wanted to "date" him. She even had pictures of herself blowing kisses at a Musharraf portrait posted on a website.

Following the brouhaha over this "breaking news", Toronto-based Sarkari was invited by a Pakistani TV channel to its Dubai studio recently for an interview. Though the beauty queen accepted the invite graciously, she was shocked by the host's aggressive tone during the interview.

Sarkari was "berated for bringing a bad name to Pakistan" for her participation in beauty pageants and particularly her comments on Musharraf, the weekly Friday Times reported.

The beauty queen said the interviewer seemed to be on a mission to discredit her and Musharraf. When Sarkari returned to Toronto, she telephoned the producer and objected to being lured to Dubai with false promises, but he said he was not at fault and was merely "following orders".

Sarkari recorded her phone conversation with the producer and has sent the tape to a rival channel.

She had dedicated a long post to Musharraf on the Pakistani pageant's website.

"Going to international pageants we have found out how much Musharraf is known to all beautiful young girls, the beauty queens.

Some have replied, "Oh yes, the general man (sic)." While others have said, "The man who rules Pakistan," she wrote.

"Everything positive... I think personally Musharraf Sahab is very good-looking. Some Pakistani politicians may not agree with these gorgeous women. You know like Benazir, all men around the world thought she was a beauty, similarly Musharraf is a hunk. He has enough charisma to have young girls going nuts," goes the beauty queen's post.

Sarkari said she would love to date Musharraf if he asked her out. "Yes, any time... I like him a lot...," she told a news portal.

Earlier this week, another Pakistani beauty queen claimed she and Musharraf are "old friends".

Maria Mateen, who has bagged many beauty awards, however, told a TV channel that she had no desire to date Musharraf as they were "already good friends".

Source : PTI