Life's a drag act for the TV presenter challenging homophobia in Pakistan
Arifa Akbar meets the unlikely celebrity forcing an intolerant society to confront its prejudices
Monday, 23 November 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/lifes-a-drag-act-for-the-tv-presenter-challenging-homophobia-in-pakistan-1825925.htmlA 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 ->-bleeped-<-. 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.
