Proceed at your own risk: OSAMA'S THE LEAST OF HIS WORRIES

Pakistan's dictator, Pervez Musharraf has a full plate of aggravation: Al-Qaeda and Osama infesting his northern border, Taliban terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists, an uncomfortable alliance with the United States, liberal intellectuals, the Hindu Bomb and ongoing border disputes with the world's largest democracy, India. It's enough to drive a Paki to London or New York to drive a taxi for a living.

So one can only feel sympathy for Pakistan's warrior president as he faces what has become his most challenging adversary: a drag queen.

Yes, the waxed, plucked, colorized and be-jeweled gay son of a prominent family, 27-year old Begum Nawazish Ali (ne Ali Saleem,) the Dame Edna Everige of Karachi, has become Pakistan's most famous and influential television personality and a force to be reckoned with for political and social change. In fact, one could say that not since Stonewall has a drag queen played such an important role in the civil and human rights movement.

Dictator Musharraf finds himself caught between his democratic and very public commitment to a free press and the Pakistani Generals who are threatening to drag Begum Ali off the air.

Undaunted by the controversy, Begum Ali delivers the same controversial and uproarious take on life that is typical of Dame Edna and most drag queens but with a very pointed political and social agenda. She routinely ka-bobs prominent Pakistanis including politicians, generals and religious leaders--and, so far, with impunity, asking questions and taking on issues that mainstream Pakistani journalists dare not even consider.

With the charm, wit and razor-sharp tongue of a typical drag queen, Begum Ali turns her Maybelline eye to such topics as the US-led war on terror, Musharraf’s dictatorship and discrimination against women. Begum Ali was one of the few Pakistani "journalists" to provide a public forum for Mukhtaran Mai, the Pakistani woman who was gang raped on the orders of a local government as punishment for a crime allegedly committed by her 12 year brother. (Her brother's "crime" was that he had befriended a woman from another family. The boy was also gang raped by local men for having "dishonored" the village as a result of this friendship.)

According to an interview she recently gave to The Telegraph of Calcutta, one of arch-rival India's leading newspapers:

“Ever since I was a child I used to fantasize about growing up to be a woman. My friends all said that I am like a 60-year old woman. I am a woman in a man’s body.”

The Telegraph goes on: "Articulate and theatrical, Saleem’s earrings, waxed forearms and plucked eyebrows were offset by a day’s growth of stubble on his chin.

In private he eschews his character’s low-necked chiffon robes, preferring a T-shirt and jeans.

A rarity in Pakistan for his openness, Saleem describes himself as a bisexual.

He first earned a name impersonating former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and then added Margaret Thatcher, the late Diana, Princess of Wales and Noor Jehan, the actor who inspired the Begum’s 1970s sartorial style.

His mother, a former government official and his father, a polo-playing army officer, both applaud his success."

Begum Ali's "power" and defense against censorship and outright imprisonment is her fame, ratings and family. As Pakistan's highest rated television star, Pakistan's dictator and his generals, preferring to show their "democracy" face to the world, do most of their dirty work in secret. And Begum Ali and her nightly chariot ride across the skies of Karachi is hardly secretive.

Furthermore, Begum Ali's father is a prominent military figure, Colonel Saleem Ahmad Zafar and her brother, Umar Saleem, also a television celebrity is a Pakistani rally driver who hosts a popular macho national car racing program. This Muslim Drag Queen enjoys the open support and love of both men in addition to her millions of fans.

The two brothers: racing star, Umar and drag star, Ali:

As I've said before, the greatest and mostly unsung heroes of freedom are drag queens. Regardless of their bad habits and occasionally questionable lifestyle choices, no one symbolizes individuality and self-expression with more courage and bravado than a drag queen.

Undoubtedly, Begum Ali offers millions of Pakistanis and Muslims a nightly taste of real freedom, self-expression and the possibilities of a true democratic society, cleansed of superstition, bigotry and fear.

Ali Saleem also reminds us that millions of men and women living under the oppression and nightmare of Islamic fundamentalism and military dictatorship are, to be be blunt, just like us and in need and in want of the same freedoms and rights to self-expression.

Long live Drag!

You can read much more about this drag hero of Islam here and here.