‘Guru culture a lethal form of neo-slavery’

Islamabad: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz on Sunday said there was a united stance on the ‘guru culture’ as it was a lethal form of exploitation and neo-slavery.

It was against human rights and it should not be part of any act or rules to be framed for transgender persons, he said in an exclusive talk with this agency.

Besides urging the parents of non-binary gender children to take ownership, Dr Qibla Ayaz proposed the government establish rehabilitation centres to bring them into the mainstream of the social spectrum. He said according to the health experts, transgender persons could be operated on at every stage of life including childhood, or after attaining the age of adult or youth in the light of modern medical sciences and could be transformed as normal and productive citizens of the society except in a few cases.

Shedding light on the Self-perceived identity from the perspective of Islam, he said it was contrary to the teachings of Shariah and could be a source of many unexpected issues in the future. However, the provision of self-perceived identity must be abrogated from any act or rules, he added. He further pointed out that the word transgender was wrongly defined in the Transgender Persons (Rights of Protection) Rules, as it included those persons who did not fall in their category and recommended that the word intersex must be used instead of transgender because it was the umbrella term for the following segment of the society.

By birth non-binary gender persons could analyse their physical status or it could be ascertained by their parents or medical board but it could not be assumed on the basis of self-perceived identity, he added. To a query, he made it clear that the CII was not consulted while enacting the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. He said the council had referred to three amendment bills presented by Senator Mohsin Aziz, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed, and Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari and it had recommended amendments to them accordingly.