New Delhi: The transgender community in Pakistan is up in arms over their sudden lack of legal and social rights. They will now have to conform to the sex assigned to them at the time of birth.
This comes after Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court—the religious judiciary which determines whether laws in Pakistan are compatible with Islam—struck down sections of the landmark Transgender Rights (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 last week. It has specifically struck down sections on the self-determination of transgender persons and the right to inheritance.
Prominent members of the transgender community said they will take this to the Supreme Court. In a 12-minute video, transgender activist Mehrub Moiz Awan expressed her disappointment with the verdict. “A parallel arm of the state has undone the dignity of the Pakistani people,” she said while calling it an institutional oversight. She also decried the court’s reasoning that legalising transgender rights will lead to a rise in homosexuality.
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Away from the mainstream
The court ruled that a person cannot change their gender on the basis of “innermost feeling” or “self-perceived identity”. In Karachi, transgender activist groups such as the Gender Interactive Alliance held an emergency press conference where attorney Sara Malkani denied that the legislation was un-Islamic, Dawn reported.
“The FSC decision against the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, is not only against the transgender community but also against all those who believe in human rights and women’s rights,” Malkani wrote on Twitter.
Another famous transgender activist Bindiya Rana who was at the same press conference said this ruling would push the community away from the mainstream.
“We beg at signals, we dance at gatherings to make two ends meet. It is all very much acceptable by the people. But now that a handful of us… have become educated and want respectable jobs, they are worried. They only want to see us begging and dancing, not earning a decent living,” she said.
Speaking to ThePrint, Uzma Yaqoob, the executive director of Forum of Dignity Intiatives said that she was deeply concerned and saddened by the judgment.
“This is indeed a step backwards millions of miles and it is clearly a step to instigate violence, hatred and discrimination against transgender individuals, transgender rights activists and allies in Pakistan,” she said.
She added that the judgment is exclusionary in itself as calling the act ‘un-Islamic’ shows the court has not considered the “non-Muslim” population.
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‘Un-Islamic laws’ vs human rights
When it was introduced, the Transgender Rights (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 was hailed as groundbreaking. But in 2022, several religious political parties in Pakistan, including Jamiat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, and Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan had raised objections to the Act on the grounds that it was “un-Islamic”.
Under the Act, the transgender community would be able to obtain official documents, such as driver’s licences, national identification cards, and passports. In these documents, they need only state their self-perceived identity. These rights have now been revoked.
Reema Omer, International Commission of Jurists, tweeted against the verdict calling it ‘transphobic’.
“FSC’s transphobic judgment on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, is based on misinterpretation of the law; a failure to engage with scientific evidence; and a distortion of international standards and reports of human rights organisations,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, Pakistani social media is divided on the Court’s ruling. Pakistani fashion designer Maria B, who has often come under fire for her comments against transgender persons, hailed the Court’s decision. She had earlier called the Transgender Act ‘malicious’.
Tomorrow is an important day for upholding Islamic values for the Shariat court.
Transgender Act is unislamic & detrimental to society.
This should be an open & shut case if we follow Quran, Sunnah & Hadith.
Pray that Islam wins insha'Allah.#SaveOurChildren #SaveTheFamily pic.twitter.com/UDcJanqTAl
— Maria.B (@RealMariaButt) May 18, 2023
Nayyab Ali, executive director of Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan and one of the petitioners for the Transgender Act, stated at a news conference Friday, that the transgender community was “mourning the decimation” of Pakistan’s first transgender rights protection legislation.
“The entire Khawaja Sara community is mourning the decimation of Pakistan’s first Transgender Rights Protection Act by the Federal Shariat Court… We absolutely intend to appeal the court’s findings to the Supreme Court, and we will prevail!” she wrote.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)