Are trans genders given basic human rights in Pakistan? Discuss.

The driver hit the break on the red light, the scorching heat made every privileged in their
cars to lower the ac temperature. I was busy going through my emails that I caught sight of
the fracas going on. It was three boys mockingly pulling a bright red shiny scarf of hers. She
was manly in her physique but had delicacy of a woman. She was exasperated. My eyes met
hers and she emoted misery from those eyes. I have always been unable to forget those eyes.
Such is the life of a Trans gender in Pakistan and this is just one incident. Several Trans
genders face this arduousness every day. Basic human rights are based off shared values of
dignity, equality and respect; they provide us with freedom of expression and shelter our
rights of education and jobs. To say that transgender are given rights in Pakistan because of
the Protection of Rights bill passed in 2017would be prejudiced since they are being
murdered, raped, forced to work as sex slaves, not treated as equals.
All women and men are born free and equal in dignity but unfortunately the same could not
be said about transgender. Is accepting the third gender so hard? Approximately 2% of
Pakistan’s population is transgender but their role in our society is limited to dancing in
weddings, Eid festivities and loud claps only. They are looked down at as inferiors and their
capabilities are always called into question, in a documentary, Pakistan’s Trans genders:
hidden lives, by Real Stories a transgender named Chahat speaks of the bitter ways she has
been treated by the society, this ill treatment makes her feel disconsolate, vulnerable and so
helpless she prays to have been born a dog instead. When people entitle them as cowards by
calling them names like “hijra” or when they question their mental credibility have they
forgotten that Transgender were employed by Mughal emperors back in the day. They were
given highly revered positions like political advisors, administrators, personal guards etc.
These titles, ill behaviour, has scared the transgender community as a whole and eventually
weakened the edifice of our society.
In Pakistan normally a transgender is forced to live an extremely miserable life, drowned in a
sea of troubles. According to the reports of the supreme court five hundred trans genders have
been killed in Pakistan since 2015. It is normal to come across a news construing that a
transgender was shot and in a particular case in Nowshera police suspected the father of the
deceased to be the murderer. Nazo, a transgender from Peshawar was killed by a man in his
flat who later chopped up her body using an axe. It’s not only Nazo, but we hear such cases
often that trans genders are being raped and murdered. The shackles of our corrupt and unjust
system have tied the tongues of the transgender community, they are forced to keep under
wraps about such barbaric acts since at the end of the day all of this is blamed on the nature
of their profession.
It is many people’s notion that transgender are being provided basic rights in Pakistan and
they base their argument off the fact that in 2017, the senate of Pakistan passed a bill,
protecting the rights of the transgender community. The “historic” bill allows citizens to have
their gender reflected on all official documents plus it proscribes inequity against the
transgender in schools, at work or at a hospital. This bill seems like the major breakthrough
the transgender community has been waiting for since decades however in actuality this isn’t
even the smallest part of the picture that is being portrayed. The definition of a transgender
provided in the bill is quite evasive and inaccurate when put in contrast to the UN and the
international standards. Moreover none of the transgender or any of the transgender rights
activists was involved during the drafting of the bill. This bill has no forms of penalties for
discrimination apart from forcing a transgender to beg and even though the transgender are
said to be entitled to jobs just like other men and women in Pakistan, the only vacancies
available are that of mere tax collectors. It is due to these factors that these individuals live a
derogatory life as second class citizens with brothels and prostitution their last resort.
Regardless of these advances the transgender community of Pakistan still continues to face
tonnes of violence and aggression everyday. They are beaten, raped murdered, molested and
abhorred by people every minute. When it comes to violence and assault, justice to
transgender still seems far flung. Social acceptance is still an uphill struggle for Pakistani
Transgender and has long deprived them of respectable living, to this date they are disowned
by their families and some even killed at birth. Maybe the solution to their issues does not lie
in purveying NIC's , passports or written drafts filled with promises of better, respectable
jobs, maybe the real solution lies in changing our minds, implementing our ideas and actually
working for the third gender as an honest society. Maybe one day we will be able to give
Nazo, Chahat and many others the justice they deserve.