Keeping in view the miserable conditions of their lives and the ordeals that people of the transgender community face in Pakistan, it was somewhat unusual when the head of the transgender community was warmly welcomed at a seminar on the subject of religious harmony at Saint Anthony Church in Dera Ghazi Khan.
Dera Ghazi Khan is at the intersection of four provinces of Pakistan and lies in the South Punjab, which has high levels of poverty. The situation in the region gets even worse for marginalised communities. Nevertheless, it did happen that Pinkish, head of the transgender community in the district, was requested to speak on the subject of religious tolerance.
Pinkish and her other transgender friends have established a cricket team and have held several cricket tournaments in the region. “We have received overwhelming support from all quarters of society - including local politicians, officials and common people - for organising cricket matches,” says Pinkish.
Transgender activist Alesha was shot, and then discriminated against in hospital - Photo courtesy - Trans Action Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Facebook
Things are changing for the transgender community in the era of social media
She said they have organised two cricket tournaments so far, between district D.G. Khan and Muzaffargarh in which transgender people enthusiastically participated. “The support for cricket matches is something amazing because it’s not easier to be transgender in a society like ours, where people don’t even like to sit with you,” Pinkish explains.
Shana Abbas, another member of the transgender community, says that the establishment of the cricket team does not mean that their problems have been resolved and that all is well. They still face harassment while commuting in the city, for instance. However, support from various people has encouraged them and they want to organise yet more healthy activities.
The transgender community in Pakistan has made remarkable progress in terms of organising itself
45 transgender people were targeted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa since January 2016
Tariq Ismail Qureshi, local journalist based in DG Khan, says that although D.G. Khan and adjacent districts are often associated with religious violence and poverty, but despite all that, seemingly ‘small’ initiatives can still improve the quality of daily life for the transgender community. “The government, civil society and rights groups need to support such small efforts which will hopefully translate into something positive for the transgender community,” he explained.
A group of transgender activists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province have formed “TransAction Alliance KP/FATA”, an organisation for the protection of the rights of the transgender community. TransAction, established in 2015, is the product of an alliance between multiple circles of activists and members of the community.
Transgender people and activists have faced violence and humiliation on a regular basis in Pakistan
The group has established itself with support from a non-profit organisation based in Peshawar. It is the first ever organised movement of sexual minorities in the province, and it represents 48,000 transgender people from 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA).
Things are changing for the transgender community in the era of social media where violence against anyone can be recorded and uploaded to any social media platform within minutes. ‘Who would have thought that there would be a platform where transgender who are considered as 2nd grade citizens would raise voice for their rights and it would make an impact,” says Farzana, the head of the TransAction Alliance.
She TransAction is an Alliance of transgender and not an NGO and is working on self-help basis receiving no financial support locally or internationally. She says police have lodged several cases against her and her friends but they are working diligently to protect the rights of transgender community. “We are running from pillar to post to protect our community from fake cases by police,” she added.
Farzana says the transgender community is punished by violence in the name of culture, tribal values and religion. The platform of TransAction is providing space to the transgender community to share ideas, opinions and problems, and its long-term goal is to change attitudes towards sexuality. In doing so, it hopes to address harmful stenotypes and transphobia in Pakistan.
She says “Our greatest achievement so far is that we have stirred a discussion on the subject and we hope that one day the society will accept us as normal humans and will not violate our rights.”
She said they are still running from pillar to post, in an effort to end the false legal cases lodged against people of their community. They hope the transgender community, using TransAction as its platform, will find the confidence to stand up for itself.
Farzana further pointed out that the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in 2009, ordered the issuance of ‘third gender’ identity cards to transgender, transsexual and eunuch populations. She said transgender people need accurate and consistent IDs to open bank accounts, start new jobs, enroll in school and travel.
She recalled that in 2012, the apex court ruled that the Khawaja Serah (a local name for transgender people) should have the same rights as other Pakistanis, including inheritance rights and job opportunities. However, the order which give inheritance rights, equal opportunities for employment has not been implemented yet.
Nothing exposes the current plight of transgender people in Pakistan more than the recent cases of violence against transgender people. In far too many cases, the transgender victims of violence faced discrimination in hospitals too.
Farzana spoke about the recent case of Alesha, a member of the TransAction Alliance Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Alesha was been critically injured after she was shot six times on the night of May 22, 2016. Farzana, of course, feels this is completely unacceptable and that the government is responsible to protect them from such violence.
Farzana further said Alesha was moved to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar in critical condition, where they faced resistance from the hospital authorities to admitting her to a female ward. She claimed that a criminal gang that extorts money from the transgender community is behind the attack on Alesha. She said they would never give up on fighting for their rights.
According to the census conducted by the federal government in 2009, the population of transgenders, transsexuals and eunuchs is estimated between 80,000 and 300,000. According to the statistics provided by Blue Veins, a programme that works for the rights of transgender in KP province, 45 transgender people were targeted in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa since January 2016.
Qamar Naseem, a Peshawar-based human rights activist says the establishment of a platform is a positive development as it would help the transgender community to speak about the discrimination they faced on daily basis.
He says civil society, politicians and community leaders in the country have not tried hard enough to learn and know more about the transgender community. Hence, society views them as second-grade citizens. This perception causes violence and harassment against the transgender community.
Another member of the TransAction Alliance KPK/FATA, Ayesha, says there is a great need to discuss gender and sexuality so that accurate policies are made. She says transgender people have historically always been a part of Muslim societies and in the present, different Muslims countries deal with the issues differently, in accordance with local cultural dynamics.
She recommended that the federal government and the provincial governments introduce civic studies in schools, with a special focus on violence against women, harassment of sexual minorities, killing women in the name of honour, child abuse and the rights of minorities to educate young people on the serious issues the society is faced with.
“A great number of problems can be solved if we start discussing them, and we hope the debate on the issue of the rights of transgender, transsexual and eunuch communities would yield fruitful results in the future,” concludes Ayesha.
Hamid Hussain is an Islamabad-based journalist. He tweets @Hamidlawangeen
