Why should the transgender community of Sindh have concerns about the upcoming general elections?
Imran
When we went to the polling booth for the first time in
the election of 2018, we were laughed at. They were called by different
political parties with strange names, voices were whistled, whistles were blown
and mocked. If they stand in the women's line apart from the men's line, the
women have objections as to why they are standing here.
This is what Shahzadi
Rai, who is a trans activist and the first elected member of the Karachi
Municipal Council, has to say.
Shahzadi Rai says that we have been kept away from the
election. After the decision of the Sharia Court, NADRA did not make our
identity cards, that option was removed from the software. The decision to
invalidate the Transgender Act was challenged in the Supreme Court. July 17,
2023 This decision has been challenged The decision of the Federal Sharia Court
regarding the rights of transgender has been challenged by the transgender
community and civil society in the Supreme Court.
Second, it reduces the number of eunuchs. According to
the statistics agency, we are around 2500, while we claim that our number is
around 50,000 in Sindh.
The Health Department of the Government of Sindh launched
the Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Program (PrEP) in Karachi in collaboration with
the United Nations in Pakistan on 07 June 2022.
In which the number of eunuchs was said to be around 50
thousand. In which we have done HIV tests of around 16 thousand people. Under
this program we have reported about 800 HIV positive people. How can we be 22
hundred?
The transgender community will not be able to come out in
this year's elections because they have neither been issued an identity card
nor registered to vote, the government of Pakistan is responsible for all this.
They don't even like to hear our name from any political party in the general
elections.
Look at the general election of 2018, I worked at a
polling station on behalf of an institution. I share that experience with you.
Giving space to eunuchs, having a separate booth for
voting, nothing of this kind was arranged at the polling station.
There was no third line. No importance was given. Apart
from this, there was a lot of joking about which line you were standing in.
Some political parties had strongly said why are you
talking to us.
Why have you come here and what is your job? We have
failed as a state and have not come up with any terms in this election.
No better action has been taken by the police. Nothing
has been done in these five years, no legislation has been passed.
We have
reservations, we should be provided with security. No one here mentally accepts
the trans that the trans is standing against you and he is contesting the
election. As long as we beg in front of you, spread our hands in front of you,
come to the position that you are against us. Pity, if we talk about equality,
if you have the same mindset of power and position, you will never accept us.
Transgender should vote with you as equal to you.
However, in Pakistan's politics, when the opposition leader and the party are
called with very inappropriate words, we are also facing the same kind of
attitudes. Making fun of telling people that transgender people are weak. The
transgender community has always been maligned and portrayed as weak.
When you keep this attitude, who will come forward? Sindh
has been progressive thinking since the beginning. Khuajasara community
especially at the government level but till now when the local government
elections were being held there were also some small ones. There were areas
where the members of the political parties who had stood up had flatly denied
that trans members would not be in our council.
There was a lot of objection and this case was of
Sanghar, we raised this case on social media and also talked to political
parties. So far these issues have not been resolved. When the elections are
about to be held, everyone has their own way to win in one way or the other.
Those who call themselves public representatives have
never met a transgender and some politicians are proud of it. You are not
familiar with public issues.
Religious parties, political parties, media people were
not supporting anyone.
you will sit on the mainstream media, you don't talk
about this, you don't talk about your gender, you have to talk about
censorship. Talk we actually want human rights and nothing else.
Role of media and need to create awareness
Shahzadi rai believes that the media can play an important
role in the election.
What we had to prepare in the last five years, we did not
do.
By the state and by other institutions.
Media is such a
platform especially social media and mainstream media some such advertisement
media campaign should be run by the supervising government and political
parties and it should mention the process of transgender rights if it is at the
polling station. If they come, they should be respected.
People are afraid of becoming a joke or a spectacle at
the polling station.
Give them respect Give them all the rights Don't make
them stand in line Give them respect Help them exercise their right to vote Conducting
awareness programs is very important.
Identity card issue
Zarish is from Safura Council, a municipal corporation in
Karachi. She says that after the decision of the Sharia Court, our identity
cards were frozen, neither are new ones being made nor are they being renewed.
They say that after the decision of the Sharia Court,
NADRA received a letter after which our identity cards will not be made, then
how can we be a part of the election. There is a serious problem, if you go to
get an ID card, it is also said to bring your medical certificate. Do boys and
girls in this society submit their medical certificates or not?
Voter registration
The process of voter registration was done when our
identity cards were made. Their last date was July 21, which has passed. And
neither our identity cards were made nor the process of voter registration
could be completed. Everything is stopped by NADRA.
Population in
Karachi
According to Zarish, their population in Karachi is
around 22 thousand, of which 63 percent are emigrants from other districts of
Sindh and Punjab.
They make fun of them and call them bad names
Ever since it was said that we will take part in the
election, we have been using strange phrases on behalf of different political
parties. We are called by wrong names and it is said that now you people will
fight against us on our equal footing.
We are a eunuch, people say it is a real eunuch, not a
fake. Now what is the difference between real and fake? They said, being an
eunuch is equal to winning the title of Miss World or becoming a personal
assistant to the Prime Minister, it is nothing. But only people's words make
the heart burn more.
Difficulties on
polling day
First of all, our existence is not recognized, secondly,
if we reach the polling station, they make us stand in the line of men until
the vote is cast.
Number of eunuchs
There was a significant decrease in the number of transgender
in all the divisions of Sindh except Karachi. In the 2017 census, there were
5,954 eunuchs in Sindh province, which has decreased by 37 percent to 3,745 in
the 2023 census, the same situation in all the divisions of the province except
Karachi.
In Karachi division, the number of transgender reached
2247 with an increase of 1% as against 2223 in 2017. In Larkana division, there
has been a 63% decrease to 307 eunuchs as against 849 in 2017.
In Hyderabad division, eunuchs have reduced from 1277 to
556, a decrease of 56% has been recorded. In Mirpurkhas division, 137 eunuchs
have been counted with a decrease of 71% from 537 in 2017. The number of
eunuchs in Shaheed Benazirabad division has decreased from 635 to 239, a
decrease of 62%. Sukkur division has reduced by 40% to 433 eunuchs as against
433 in 2017 census.
Uzma Yaqoob, Executive Director of Forum for Dignity Initiatives
- FDI Pakistan, says that the fear that sits within the community, the hatred
that has been campaigned against them, has affected their identity the most.
Gend is. This was that part. Judgment has come. These people will stand in
front of us and fight the elections because of their participation in
mainstream politics. How this restoration will be done is a big disappointment.
The trust has been finalized. Your life's threat has been finalized.
This is actually the time in which political parties should
play their role. You should talk about the rights of transgender people in your
rallies.
You should weigh the transgender people who are citizens
in your constituencies.
You should mobilize that political parties in their
manifesto need to talk about their rights in constituencies. There are three or
four parties of your count that are at the national level, Pakistan People's
Party, Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. And
Jamaat-e-Islami needs to present transgender as equals within three to four
meetings.
This will anchor the trans community, they will end their
fear and they will get confidence. It is not like this yet. Transgender will
not be able to participate in the election of 2024. People like shahzadi Rai
will participate in it, who are aware and who know. We have no other way except
resistance. There will be no experience of 2018. It will be less. We have not
made progress in this. The media has a very big role. Political parties should
have played a role. Social organizations should have a hand.
Munwar Ali Ghangharu, director of Pakistan Statistical
Office, was spoken to regarding the transgender population in Sindh and he said
that so far we have not compiled any data. He was asked again that according to
your estimate, how much population of the transgender community will be, he
said that everyone has their own estimates and nothing can be said about it
until the data is announced.
Federal Sharia Court Decision on Transgender Act
Acting Chief Justice Muhammad Anwar and Justice Khadim
Hussain gave a safe decision in the case against transgender rights in the
Federal Sharia Court.
According to the decision of the Federal Sharia Court,
eunuchs cannot change their gender and eunuchs cannot call themselves male or
female.
The decision said that the government is obliged to
provide medical, educational and economic facilities to such people, Islam
provides all human rights to transgender and the government is obliged to give
them all rights.
According to the decision, gender is related to the
biological sex of a person, many acts of worship including prayer, fasting,
Hajj are related to gender.
Gender cannot be determined by human feelings.
In Islam, there is a concept of transgender and orders in
this regard.
The verdict said that Section 2 of the Transgender Act is
not against Shariat, transgender are entitled to all basic rights which are
enshrined in the Constitution.
Transgender sex
will be determined by predominance of physical influences.
One who is dominated by male influences will be a male
eunuch concept and one who is dominated by female influences will be a female
eunuch concept.
The Federal Sharia Court has said in its decision that
the Sharia does not allow someone to change gender by becoming impotent, the
gender can remain the same as it was at the time of birth.
The Federal Sharia Court says that no one can be called
male or female according to physical features, no one can be declared
transgender based on physical features and self-identity.
In the judgment, it has been said that in section 7, by
determining the sex of the will, the will's share in the inheritance could have
been taken.
Inheritance can be given according to gender, it would be
unlawful for a man or woman to call themselves eunuchs outside of their
biological sex.
The Shariat Court declared Section F2 of the Transgender
Act to be against Shariat, the court also declared the rules made under the
Transgender Act illegal, it was said that the provisions declared illegal have
no legal status.
Uzma Yaqoob Executive Director Forum for Dignity
Initiatives - FDI Pakistan says that the problem is that the Election
Commission of Pakistan or your election staff or your media does not
deliberately give the impression that whenever you sit before the Election
Commission. They will cry that we don't have resources. They say that we don't
have people in terms of finance and also in terms of human resources. Since the
election was announced on February 8. School buildings are less, we have less
staff. If there are no schools, where will we vote, we don't have community
centers, you don't have the capacity.
Your prime time media plays a major role in this.
Instead, watch the same fights and other stuff in prime time. Who built the
motorway, who denied the IMF, who gave the Benazir Income Support Program, if
we come to the real issues and highlight the important issues in the society,
it will make a big difference. They will get vote on trust. Make one hour of
your TV channel a transgender program
Another important thing is the role of the youth. There
should be different ways of engaging the youth. What are the problems we have
in schools, colleges and universities? What are the real problems faced by transgender?
First, political parties should play their role, they
should talk at every forum.
Mobilize the voters, how will you change the life of
transgender, how many will be given scholarship and how much will be the job
quota? All things must include them
According to the ongoing 7th census in Sindh, the largest
number of eunuchs reside in Karachi division, while the most eunuchs live in
Korangi, out of the 7 districts of Karachi .
According to the data on the number of transgender, out
of 3365 transgender in the province, 1950 reside in Karachi. 497 brothels were
counted in Korangi, 383 in Central District, 274 in Eastern District, 250 in
Southern District, 170 in Western District, 161 in Malir and 215 in Kemari.
Compared to the elections, the number of registered
transgender persons voters has increased by 116.
Deputy Director Gender Shabbir Khan said that transgender
were not only registered as voters but also ensured that they could exercise
their right to vote in a dignified manner on the polling day.
Saba Gul, Chairman Indus Welfare Association and a social
worker of the transgender community says that when I saw people begging, people
throwing stones at tomatoes and involved in bad activities, after that I
started working on them. My effort is to put an end to the eunuchs who beg and
lead them to a dignified life.
According to Gender Interactive Alliance Pakistan, 80
percent of eunuchs in Karachi are illiterate, while the majority of the
remaining 20 percent are illiterate.
Bandia Rana says that if the government cannot give jobs
to 80 percent eunuchs, they should give employment to at least 20 percent
educated eunuchs.
Ramsha says that the quota of two percent is enough. If
eunuchs get employment, they will not be seen begging and dancing anywhere on
the roads.
According to Director Election Commission Babar Malik,
the Election Commission receives the data related to the gender of the voters
from NADRA.
According to the documents of registered voters of
eunuchs, 3 thousand 29 eunuchs from across the country will be able to exercise
their right to vote in the upcoming general elections.
Whenever the NADRA officials were contacted and
questioned about the concerns of the transgender community and the
non-production of identity cards, they refused to discuss the issue.
