November 23, 2009
Life's a drag act for the TV presenter challenging homophobia in Pakistan
by Arifa Akbar
The Independent
A finely groomed woman in a sparkling turquoise sari sashays through the doors of Asia House to rapturous applause. Her sari twinkles under the glare of TV cameras and a queenly smile breaks through heavy face-powder. She bows to the audience of British Asians and Pakistani embassy dignitaries, then looks Wajid Shamsul Hassan, the high commissioner, squarely in the eye. "I'm so sorry I'm late, my dears, but this," she says, casting her hand over her face and outfit, "took two hours. The pressures of being a woman: men expect so much from us."
Some of the audience titters. This impeccably dressed guest, was introduced as Begum Nawazish Ali, the stately widow of an army colonel, and he is Pakistani's first television transvestite. Begum, otherwise known as Ali Saleem, is a 30-year-old television presenter who has made a name for himself as Pakistan's first open bisexual, a highly transgressive act in a country where overt homosexuality is banned under sharia law.
His show has become a flagship series for Aaj channel, and he has gained an unlikely fan-club of Pakistani politicians, film stars and army dignitaries in Pakistan who tune in or turn up as guests to his Dame Edna Everage-style chat show every week.
The show is not meant to be a comedy act, Saleem says, although his act in London is peppered with risqué jokes. "I'm the only queen Pakistan really has; there is no competition. My heart is just like the army, open to all men between the ages of 18 and 65. The Taj Mahal is man's greatest erection for a woman."
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