Daily Times

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), an ally of the government and part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), has challenged the Transgender Protection Act, 2018, in the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Friday, a private TV channel reported.

In the petition, the JUI-F requested that the act be declared against Shariat, adding that “no law can be made against Quran and Sunnah in the country”.

The FSC fixed the party’s application for a preliminary hearing on Monday, October 3.

On September 26, the Transgender Act Amendment Bill 2022 related to the protection of transgenders had been presented in the House by PTI Senator Fauzia Arshad and was then handed over to the relevant Standing Committee by the Chairman Senate.

In recent days, the high-level meeting of the Islamic Ideological Council also said that the transgender law may cause new social problems and that several provisions in the act as a whole are not compatible with Shariah principles.

The recently passed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act by the National Assembly, was enacted in 2018. The law allows transgender persons equal rights to education, basic health facilities, writing their transgender identity on their identity cards and passports, besides the right to vote and contest elections.

However, some religious parties are of the opinion that this bill is actually an attempt to give legal protection to homosexuality in the country. Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has also challenged the law in the Shariat court.

Earlier, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, head of the JUI-F, had also said that the “law is against the teachings” of the Holy Quran and Sunnah and had added that he will submit amendments to it in parliament. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Sirajul Haq had also stated that the Act was against Islamic Sharia.