Implementation of laws to end violence against transgenders stressed

Islamabad : Peoples’ Development Foundation (PDF) and Pakistani Students’ Association (PSA) at York University held a seminar to promote the rights of the transgender community and emphasize the need to effectively implement laws to end the violence against the transgender community.

The seminar was attended by people from all walks of life including elected parliamentarians, bureaucrats, police officers, lawyers, and journalists. Notable activists of the Wajood Organisation Babli Malik, Aisha Mughal, and Prof. Raja Nadeem – who are also members of the transgender community - also attended the seminar to provide a first-hand account of their issues.

Member National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) Manzoor Massey was also present to stress on equal rights of all minorities as Pakistani citizens.

The seminar began with PSA President Ujala Moin and PDF representative Aasman Bhutta’s collaborative video link address to welcome the guests and highlight the agenda of the seminar. They told the guests that the goal of this seminar is to raise awareness about transgenders' and other minorities’ rights and help them earn their due respect from all segments of society. “We believe this will help put an end to the sufferings of transgenders and other minorities,” they said.

Moin further stressed the need of forming a network that will raise voices against transgender violence. She also said that to create a society based on the principle of equality, we also need to come together as a society.

Bhutta said that in the past PDF was able to enrol 800 individuals in the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP). “But now we need to put an end to the social inequality that dominates the Pakistani society,” he said while stressing that all sections of the society need to contribute to this. He further suggested the need of adding gender studies to the curriculums of schools. Mughal, in her welcome address, said that the law recognizing transgenders’ rights was passed in 2018 and became effective in 2020; nevertheless, violence against transgenders has been surging.

She told, “In the past three years, more than 75 transgenders have been murdered in the province of KPK alone. This highlights the lack of implementation.”

Renowned transgender activist Babli Malik said that the society lacks awareness and empathy for transgenders due to which they are treated with hostility by other sections of the society. She also demanded transgenders’ representation in the policies related to them.