Denial of rights
Any civilised society looks after its weak and vulnerable members. Unfortunately in this country the transgender community is subjected to worst forms of discrimination. They are treated as lesser beings contemptuously called eunuchs who do not deserve access to employment opportunities or pursue other interests in life. If the prevailing social prejudices were not bad enough, the governmental attitude is no less disappointing. In fact, as far as the government is concerned, people whose sexual identity does not match male or female gender’s don’t even exist. It may be recalled that it has been a while since the Supreme Court had ordered the authorities to provide computerised national identity cards to transgender citizens. Yet the issue remains unresolved. The apex court’s ruling was implemented without making necessary legal changes to provide for third gender inclusion in the sex column of the National Database and Registration Authority’s (Nadra) registration forms. As a result, like before, these people still have either to make a false declaration or forget getting an NIC, which is a necessary requirement not only to apply for jobs, passports, and cellular phone SIMs, but also for claiming inherited property as well as buying and selling of moveable and immoveable assets.
Needless to say, the reluctance to do the right thing is violative of basic human rights. And also reinforces social prejudices and the stigma attached to being a transgender, rendering so many lives unworthy of respect. As a member of the community seeking inclusion of the third gender in Nadra forms lamented in a petition before the Lahore High Court, even their parents do not want to own them due to social pressures. These people are at greater risk of violence and mistreatment by ‘normal’ people. A case in point is that of a transgender activist, Alisha, who was shot several times by a criminal gang member and rushed to Peshawar’s best known medical facility, Lady Reading Hospital, where she died, according to her friends, unattended by the doctors because of her gender.
It is about time the government fulfils its constitutional responsibility to safeguard the fundamental rights of all citizens. It must make necessary changes in the NIC forms to include the third gender so that these people can live as equal citizens of the state. Now that the national census is due anytime soon, it would make eminent sense too to make proper registration of this part of the population. They ought to be given due recognition and placed in the gender where they think they belong rather than where society wants to see them: either men or women. That is not only a denial of rights but of truth as well.
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