SHRC demands CNICs for transgender persons

The Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has demanded of the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) to issue identity cards to transgender persons without any discrimination.

The SHRC said in a statement on Monday that the transgender persons in Pakistan are already marginalized and denying them the Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) would aggravate their problems.

The commission issued this statement over a complaint, filed by a Hyderabad-based transgender person Sana Khan, that Nadra had refused to issue them CNIC. The statement read: “Ceasing the provision of CNIC cards to transgender persons violates various fundamental rights granted to the citizens in the Constitution of Pakistan”.

The SHRC said that Nadra had issued a notification on June 13, 2023, halting CNICs for transgender persons. However, the same notification was withdrawn on September 25, 2023, but the Nadra office in Hyderabad claimed that their central system was yet to be updated, it added.

The commission said that Nadra referred to a judgment passed on May 19, 2023 by the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in the case of Hammad Hussain versus Federation of Pakistan and others, which ordered to cease some provisions of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act.