Pakistan as a country deal with a lot of political & social issues. The transgender community has fought for their rights for decades & decades. The country continually sees many incidents erupting every now & then to give birth to infinite speculation about what does the law actually say?
Pakistan Judicial System released Transgender Act back in 2018. It was a step ahead to acknowledge the existence of their gender & appreciate what they have always done.
The act gave a sense of validation, birth rights validation, freedom of identity, expression, and every right as a normal citizen of the country. The question remains intact, why do we discuss it now?
The novel news is that the senior member of the Senate, Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, has filed a petition in the court asking to make some amendments. He believes that the transgender act 2018 is a threat to some of our religious roots.
Now, here’s a reminder of what the Act 2018 says & considering it, is making amendments justified after transgenders battling for their rights for decades?
First off, the act defined the term transgender & who falls under it? So, Intersex people, who have gone gender reassignment surgery & were originally born as male & Khawaja Siras who were born with both male & female genitals come under the definition of Transgender. This also includes people whose gender is different now from the one they were born with, who come under the category.
The act clearly stated that anyone living in the territory of Pakistan has the right to change their gender whenever they want to & express themselves, however, they want to.
Self-identification is pertinent for everyone without the need of seeking permission from someone else. They can register themselves in National Database with whichever gender they choose to identify themselves with.
Another most important factor in the transgender act 2018 was the harassment on the basis of gender both inside & outside of their houses. Gender people, gender identity & any kind of mistreatment of them in the workplace, educational institutes & everywhere, in general, is entirely banned.
Lastly, the Transgender act 2018 also talked about them inheriting property, voting, attaining education, finding employment, expressing themselves in public places & roam wherever they want. Every citizen’s right shall be given to them just like a normal citizen.
