group of transgender people convened to represent the underprivileged trans- community and organise the first Hijra Festival in the metropolitan. The aim was to highlight the historic roots of the transgender community and celebrate their contribution to the Pakistani society.

While word hijra is generally thrown around as a gendered slur. The organisers said that they were hoping to own and reclaim the term by naming the festival after it and coupling it with the Existence, Resistance and Resilience slogan.

The event was organised to highlight social discrimination faced by the transgender community in Pakistan and demand equal opportunities for all. The participants observed two minutes of silence to show solidarity with the people of Gaza.

The participants marched from the Karachi Press Club to Fowara chaurngi. They played drums and danced all the way to the Arts Council of Pakistan where they had also set up many stalls selling food, clothes and jewellery.

“The word hijra has cultural roots in our society and history of the subcontinent. It was not a derogatory term initially,” says Advocate Nisha Rao. Tracing the etymology, Rao says that the word took on a different meaning later when the society began stigmatising the entire transgender community.

“Like men and women, transgender people are a part of the society,” says Rao, adding that by organising the festival the community intended to spread awareness in the society.

Rao says that while the march was not a ‘political’ activity, the participants were demanding their basic rights such as recognition and identity within the society and the state.

Rao says that as a lawyer she is working for the welfare of the transgender community. She adds that she offers free legal assistance to the community members. “I represent some of the most marginalised segments of this community [trans- community] such as those who are unemployed or live in slums,” says Rao.

In response to a question about donations being sourced to specific groups within the community, Rao says that grouping within the transgender community “is not a new thing.” She says some people have been receiving funds and operating NGOs but not actually assisting members of the community. She says such persons need to be called out. “Our community is already neglected by the society and the state. If any such groups are operating, they need to be investigated and held accountable,” she says.

Another organiser said that the festival was organised to shed light on various aspects of community life and present their demands.

The writer is based in Karachi  and mainly covers political parties, labour, education policy, science and research, minorities and human rights