LAHORE: Member of National Assembly (MNA) Maiza Hameed has said that the government is evolving a strategy to address the plight of transgenders in the society and the workers of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) are involved in sensitising stakeholders including academia, policymakers, media, healthcare providers, legal experts and human rights’ activists in this regard.
Talking to Daily Times, she said that the recent incident of injustice with Alisha, a transgender who was shot eight times allegedly by a disgruntled customer at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, should be enough for all to eliminate such barbaric crimes from the society. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has already declared recently that transgenders have equal rights and were a normal citizen, she said.
The latest decision includes equality in all aspects including rights in inheritance after the death of parents, job opportunities and hiring of individuals etc. In 2009, the Supreme Court also passed the order of including the category of ‘third gender’ in the national identity card form. In fact, in the last elections, many transgenders wrote the history by casting their vote to choose their political representative.
This decision of the Supreme Court was successfully presided over by former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhary. “A myth seems to have formed among people that transgenders cannot do any work except for sing and dance. I wonder who started this, the downwards spiral of degradation. Now they are not treated as equal and are compelled to remain in secluded communities with their own kind, often in extreme poverty,” the lawmaker lamented.
“Most are uneducated as the notion of a transgender child being brought up in a normal household and studying in a mainstream school is not an acceptable reality.” On a query, she said that the government was working towards evolving a strategy to sensitise general public regarding transgenders. She said that the party envisions providing respect to every citizen, as Pakistan was founded on the name of justice and equality.
Besides the government, Maiza said several non-government bodies were also taking an active interest in improving the quality of life in the transgenders’ community. “Although the government is finally on the right track towards safeguarding the rights of the transgenders, I hope that this will bring a true change in the mind sets of people as well. It is high time we start respecting individuals based on their individuality and not our judgment of their character and sexuality,” she said.
