Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Transgender community has demanded appropriate representation of transgender persons in the Senate, the National Assembly and provincial assemblies on reserve seats.

“No major political party recognises us or gives us a ticket on general seats. The government should give us power of presence in the assemblies to stand in the public spotlight and demonstrate the legitimacy, value and dignity of our lives,” Wajud Welfare Organisation Chief Executive Bubbli Malik said.

The transgender community has been facing severe problems in the society that includes their registration with National Database & Regulation Authority, employment, education, healthcare, housing and public transportation among others, she said, adding their strength is more than those minorities which have proper representation in assemblies.

The transgender community is deprived of basic rights; Bubbli Malik said announcing that they would soon file a writ petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan for getting representation in the legislative bodies.

Senator Sitara Ayaz said that their demands, though, are genuine but it will require legislation from assembly.

“The transgender community should start their struggle from today to get this right. The Awami National Party believes in gender equality and we will support them,” she said.

Forum for Dignity Initiatives Executive Director Uzma Yaqub said that every community should have their representation in assemblies as a representation in the assembly means access to the resources. If they have representation in assemblies, their status in the society will automatically improve.

She said the transgender community will have five year after this general election for the lobbing to get reserve seats in assemblies.

Responding to their demands, advocate Javeria Ambreen said that everywhere in the world minorities have their representation on every forum. It is true that the transgenders community is facing severe problems in the society. If the transgenders community files writ petition in SC and it is accepted, after the hearings the court will order the assemblies for the legislation. It is a long process but if they start it soon after the general election, hopefully they will get the reserved seats in the next election.

Senior journalist Abdul Waheed Anjum said, the community should force the legislators to legislate for them by presenting a bill for them in the parliament.

“I think this is the shortest way to get representation in the assemblies,” he said.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, the registered transgender persons in the last census were 10,300. However, the representatives of the community claimed that their numbers are more than one million.

Total number of the transgender community in Rawalpindi is 450 as shown in the census while the actual number is about 0.1 million.

Published in Daily Times, July 22^nd 2018.