KP government to introduce transgender protection bill

News Desk

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government will introduce the provincial Transgender Protection Bill 2022 soon, revealed Blue Veins Program Manager Qamar Naseem in Peshawar on Monday.

Naseem said the provincial government and its Social Welfare Department deserve a huge appreciation for making efforts to bring transgender persons into the mainstream by creating an endowment fund.

The transgender rights activist further observed that the decision will help them escape the vicious cycle of poverty.  It is encouraging that the government is listening. The time has come to look beyond the binary gender construct of ‘male’ and ‘female’.

Furthermore, the KP transgender community and civil society have appreciated the KP government for introducing Pakistan’s Transgender Endowment Fund Bill 2022.

It merits some insertions here that the provincial minister for the social welfare department has presented a bill for setting up an endowment fund for the welfare of transgender persons in the province.

The government took the lead in fulfilling the needs of the transgender community presented in this new law and became the first provincial government in Pakistan.

Section 3 of the proposed law sets up a transgender person’s welfare endowment fund with an initial capital of Rs100 million. Under Section 4, the fund will be utilized for the welfare activities of transgender persons to bring them into the mainstream.

Besides, the Fund will also provide financial assistance and small-scale interest-free loans to transgender persons for small entrepreneurship and business development.

Franco-German Prize for Human rights & rule Law laureate Nayyab Ali said that today is the big day in the history of Pakistan and globally that we are the first country to have two laws to protect transgender rights and their empowerment.

“I feel proud that I have also contributed to developing this legal framework after Federal Law. Now the next turn will be in Sindh and Punjab provinces,” Ali hoped.

Transaction Provincial Alliance of Transgender Community President Farzana Jan said creating an endowment fund for the transgender community is huge progress and a big success for the KP government.

Transgender people face high rates of violence in the province, adding economic empowerment of the transgender community, who are the most vulnerable, is a must to bring the transgender community into the national mainstream, Jan added.