Transgender Persons Act 2018 was the most progressive move in the history of Pakistan -- to integrate the neglected segment of the society through inclusive mechanisms, like their identity, enrolment in university education, and medical and employment rights in the formal economy of Pakistan.
After the 2018 election, the right-wing parties lost political ground in the country and therefore devised an agenda to get electoral validation in urban and rural franchises. They mixed the Transgender Persons Act with homosexual tendencies to create a narrative that could easily spread and promote biases through the media. It was meant to expand their vote bank based on popular emotional appeals of religious interpretations.
A controversy sparked over article 3 of the act, which allowed to decide the personal identity of an individual on their imagination and mental choices. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) Chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said that this article, “grants permission to everyone to determine his or her gender on personal imagination and choice, but this permission may lead to social disturbance and perversion.”
He was of the view that if someone has any problem with his or her gender identity, it should be treated medically and psychologically, so that this law cannot be used for “any shameful purpose”.
The third gender is a respectable part of our society and protection of their rights like men and women is a demand for human dignity and respect, he said.
The transgender community is shunned and driven to the margins in the country. They are forced to beg and dance to survive. They are regularly beaten, mistreated, raped and murdered. The Transgender Persons Act 2018 was important as it protected them against such human rights violations. It provided the mechanisms by which they could approach police for security. It defined features of intersex, which could be a mixture of male and female genital makeup at birth, as well as the transgender whose gender identity doesn’t conform to the social construction of gender they were allocated at birth.
The difference of opinion stemmed in the second chapter where the intersex, eunuch, and transgender person could register as per their self-identified identity through NADRA. After the enactment of the Transgender Person Act 2018, the NADRA introduced the third category, which is ‘X’, to get registration for any transgender person. The right-wing political factions interpreted the clauses by twisting words.
Social psychologist Erich Fromm argued that people create swift solutions for complex problems. The Transgender Persons Act 2018 was made controversial based on the same doctrine -- to conclude the complex structure of politics through a swift solution, to create a controversy, and then use it as a political manifesto for adult franchise in the country. To politicise fundamental rights of transgender persons shows the political immaturity of right-wing religious parties. They have manufactured a political campaign based political victimisation of depressed social classes in the society. The bill was passed with the consent of religious scholars and clerics. It was approved by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in 2018, but contrary to the council earlier interpretation of the religion and transgender rights, it stated, almost four years on, that the law was, "not in line with the Shariah", as "several provisions of the act are inconsistent with Islamic principles.
In the modern age, the definition of morals is relative, not fixed. To accept the neglected and socially-depressed classes is indeed a progressive step. The use of religion to make gender expression and gender identities controversial is a violation of human rights. The bill was not about homosexuality; it was about fundamental rights of the khawaja sera community in Pakistan.
After the 2018 election, the right-wing parties lost political ground in the country and therefore devised an agenda to get electoral validation in urban and rural franchises. They mixed the Transgender Persons Act with homosexual tendencies to create a narrative that could easily spread and promote biases through the media. It was meant to expand their vote bank based on popular emotional appeals of religious interpretations.
A controversy sparked over article 3 of the act, which allowed to decide the personal identity of an individual on their imagination and mental choices. Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) Chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said that this article, “grants permission to everyone to determine his or her gender on personal imagination and choice, but this permission may lead to social disturbance and perversion.”
He was of the view that if someone has any problem with his or her gender identity, it should be treated medically and psychologically, so that this law cannot be used for “any shameful purpose”.
The third gender is a respectable part of our society and protection of their rights like men and women is a demand for human dignity and respect, he said.
The transgender community is shunned and driven to the margins in the country. They are forced to beg and dance to survive. They are regularly beaten, mistreated, raped and murdered. The Transgender Persons Act 2018 was important as it protected them against such human rights violations.
The transgender community is shunned and driven to the margins in the country. They are forced to beg and dance to survive. They are regularly beaten, mistreated, raped and murdered. The Transgender Persons Act 2018 was important as it protected them against such human rights violations. It provided the mechanisms by which they could approach police for security. It defined features of intersex, which could be a mixture of male and female genital makeup at birth, as well as the transgender whose gender identity doesn’t conform to the social construction of gender they were allocated at birth.
The difference of opinion stemmed in the second chapter where the intersex, eunuch, and transgender person could register as per their self-identified identity through NADRA. After the enactment of the Transgender Person Act 2018, the NADRA introduced the third category, which is ‘X’, to get registration for any transgender person. The right-wing political factions interpreted the clauses by twisting words.
Social psychologist Erich Fromm argued that people create swift solutions for complex problems. The Transgender Persons Act 2018 was made controversial based on the same doctrine -- to conclude the complex structure of politics through a swift solution, to create a controversy, and then use it as a political manifesto for adult franchise in the country. To politicise fundamental rights of transgender persons shows the political immaturity of right-wing religious parties. They have manufactured a political campaign based political victimisation of depressed social classes in the society. The bill was passed with the consent of religious scholars and clerics. It was approved by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in 2018, but contrary to the council earlier interpretation of the religion and transgender rights, it stated, almost four years on, that the law was, "not in line with the Shariah", as "several provisions of the act are inconsistent with Islamic principles.
In the modern age, the definition of morals is relative, not fixed. To accept the neglected and socially-depressed classes is indeed a progressive step. The use of religion to make gender expression and gender identities controversial is a violation of human rights. The bill was not about homosexuality; it was about fundamental rights of the khawaja sera community in Pakistan.