Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A girl on Tuesday approached the Islamabad High Court seeking permission to undergo sex change surgery.

Yusra Waheed, 27, through her lawyer submitted before a bench that she had been experiencing physical changes in her body.

When she went to consult a doctor, she was advised to undergo gender reassignment surgery, the petitioner said. After which, she added, she has been going through mental agony as she would have to face difficulties in getting her National Database & Registration Authority record and other official documents realigned as per her new gender.

The petitioner told the judges that she had already arranged for the money that she would require to undergo the procedure as she had been facing “mental/psychological disturbance and disorder in her personality” since the age of 13.

She pleaded with the court to allow her to undergo sex reassignment and issue necessary directives for the authorities concerned to change her gender in official documents as per law.

Yusra Waheed, who appeared in the IHC alongside lawyer Raja Rizwan Abbasi, told Justices Mian Gul Hasan and Aurangzeb that she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria after consulting various doctors and advised to undergo sex reassignment surgery.

She maintained that she suffered from depression, anxiety and insomnia due to the condition, and requested the court to order the relevant government departments to allow her to change her gender on legal documents after the operation.

The hearing of the case was adjourned until tomorrow (Thursday).

There have been several instances in the past, where petitions seeking court permission to undergo sex-change surgery had been filed in high courts.

In 2008, Naureen Aslam had approached the Lahore High Court to undergo sex change after doctors’ advice.

The court had granted her request. In a case of similar nature, another person, had asked the high court to grant him permission to change his gender.

Published in Daily Times, March 7^th 2018.