LHC orders constitution of board on girl’s plea for gender change surgery

LAHORE:The Lahore High Court Friday ordered the Punjab government to constitute a special medical board to ascertain whether the petitioner-girl could become a boy after undergoing a ‘gender-change’ surgery.

Saba Sharif of Sialkot submitted in her petition that she was born to Chaudhry Muhammad Sharif 30 years ago as a girl. However, she said, she had started developing masculinity since her childhood.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer claimed that she was not a girl but a transgender and it was evidenced from her different medical tests. However, the court pointed out that her national identification card indicated her gender as female.

The petitioner said she consulted several gynecologists after she felt frequent pain and ‘gender disorder’ unbearable. She said a surgeon at a private hospital in Lahore after examining the reports of her ultrasound scans advised her surgery for gender change.

However, she said the surgeon asked her to secure permission from a court to avoid any legal complications in future. The petitioner requested the court to allow her to undergo surgery as advised by the doctors so she could live a normal life. Justice Jawad Hassan deferred the hearing after summer vacation and sought the medical reports of the petitioner.