Speakers put stress on transgender person rights  

Our Correspondent

Islamabad: Speakers at the seminar on Tuesday emphasized the need to effectively implement laws to end violence against transgender persons.

The seminar was jointly arranged by the Peoples’ Development Foundation (PDF), Wajood Organization and the Pakistani Students’ Association (PSA) at York University to promote the rights of the transgender community.

National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) member Manzoor Massey stressed on equal rights of all minorities as Pakistani citizens.

PSA President Ujala Moin and PDF representative Aasman Bhutta apprised the participants 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 transgender persons and other minorities,” said Moin and Bhutta.

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

Bhutta said that in the past PDF was able to enroll 800 individuals in the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP).

“We need to put an end to the social inequality,” 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 transgender person’s rights was passed in 2018 and became effective in 2020.

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

Representatives from Wajood Organization emphasized increasing awareness in the society and the implementation of guidelines issued by the NCHR.

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

Ministry of Human Right’s Transgender Expert Reem Shareef briefed guests about the situation of legal implementation and the steps that her Ministry has taken to improve it. Reem Shareef said there is a special need to raise awareness in the law enforcement institutions of the country. She said that a national implementation committee involving representatives from all the provinces has been formed to address this issue, and all institutions are being fully monitored.

DIG Islamabad Police Capt (retd) Romail Akram acknowledged the need of raising awareness amongst police officers and training them to deal with transgender issues effectively. He said that police can play a major role not only by training their officers but also by strictly enforcing laws against those involved in crimes against transgender persons.

Assistant Deputy Commissioner Quratul Ain Malik briefed guests about the steps that the city administration has taken to promote the education and awareness of the transgender community. She said that not only the government has permitted transgender to go for Hajj and Umrah using their previous passports, but they have also posted a transgender at the front desk to facilitate them better.

Senator Fawzia Arshad said that parents need to be the first ones to accept their existence. Former Chief Minister Pir Sabir Shah said that parents not only need to accept such children but also need to give them extra attention. He said that as a society, we need to reevaluate our behavior towards transgender persons.

PSA representative Malik Sunder said: “We accept transgender persons as equal members of the society and will continue our efforts for their rights.