International Minorities Festival, Aks, was held at T2f in Karachi, running from April 6-7, 2019. The festival was designed to promote visibility and accessibility of the transgender community of Pakistan, collaborating with their local partner organisation Sub Rang Society which works to ensure the implication of rights and social justice for the transgender community. The transgender community still strives to make a place in the society as they feel discriminated and abused physically and emotionally owing to harassment, torture and even murder at times. There have been several cases where people belonging to the transgender community have been killed. There certainly needs to be more tolerance and awareness about gender sensitivity subject to protect the rights and lives of the transgender community. Trans person Kami Sid, who is also a model, actor and an activist, recently starred in a short film ‘Rani’ as a transgender who makes her living by selling toys on the street. Talking exclusively to Daily Times, Kami Sid said, “We have been having this film festival for five years now in three cities ie Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. We’re having a mini version in Karachi this time and we shall have another larger festival in November.” On further explaining the need of this festival, Sid explained, “There are no rights for the trans community in our country and so there’s a dire need to spread awareness through such events, where people come together. People can only learn about our needs and rights, once they mingle with our community through different programmes. Most of the people related to the transgender community live in areas where most of us would never go.” Sid also shared, “I’m the director of Sun Rang Society that works for the transgender community. With this organisation comes the realisation that we’ve to reach out to our people living in very unfortunate conditions. For advocacy, we’ve to be fair and available for all. My only vision is to create tolerance and awareness through my work and roles in different dramas and films.” Sid also shared how she’s really looking forward to Hina Gul’s dance performance by the end of the show, which was the main highlight of the festival. Do you feel there’s more acceptance now for the trans community as compared to before? If I look back, probably five years ago, yes! There’s definitely more acceptance. Our acceptance in the work and educational field will still take more time as change is not instant, it does take its own respective time. The khuwajasira work with us and they have become more vocal about their rights with time. Unless we talk, no one will ever know our issues.” There were khuwajasiras from all over the country, who came to attend the festival, in order to add depth to their appeal, to be seen, heard and accepted. In conversation with Hina Gul, who was also the star of the night with her outstanding dance performance, dressed in an orange and silver long dress, with a Kashmiri style of matha patti embracing her forehead along with big bold earrings to match the Kashmiri set, Hina Gul shared a very important appeal, “I really request that our policemen be trained. They should be taught to respect everyone. We face a lot of discrimination and bad behaviour from them. We’re treated like outcasts by them, because they don’t know how to respect a khuwajasira. We don’t have weddings or children and so we seek joy in our little festivities and gatherings. The policemen raid our birthday parties and events and create a lot of trouble for us. We’re harassed emotionally and physically by them. It’s an appeal to Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to teach the police department some manners and respect as we’re humans as well. We’re a rejected and an abandoned community. We’re born to a human family like any other human being. I really have a lot of hope in our PM; he is our brother and protector and I do hope that he’ll consider my appeal. We need his attention and help as a community.” Talking about education, Gul continued, “We do wish to study as there are a lot of khuwajasiras that are highly educated and we’re proud of them. I myself am an FA pass. I’m the volunteer for Roshni helpline and an area in-charge too. There’s a need for a tolerant society to accept us into schools, madrasass, colleges and universities, where we are not treated like aliens rather as a part of a large society. We’re not thieves or criminals. We don’t harm anyone. We’ve to stick to various professions because there isn’t much job opportunity for our kind of people. We don’t need to beg if there was a nice respectable job available for us.” Are you able to vote or join political parties? This time we got a chance when Bindiya Rana participated in the elections for president from Sindh. She received a very good response. We also now have the liberty to make our own identity cards. That issue is also solved. Some of us even manage to get normal jobs if they are lucky. There’s definitely more acceptance compared to before. The system now listens to what we’ve to say and we are definitely on a route on change. Gul’s also selected for an upcoming drama in which the story is based on the life and struggles of a khuwajasira in our society. Jawaid Nasir is the director of this drama titled ‘Guru Jeet’. “The cast is still being selected, but I’m already finalised for the role,” she says. Another khuwajasira, Khalida, who had travelled all the way from Rawalpindi just to attend this event, shared her thoughts with Daily Times, saying, “I’m so glad to see more people like myself who are fighting for our rights; it makes me very proud to see how they have an undying courage. Karachi is way ahead in this race. There’s more acceptance here than compared to Punjab. We’re still fighting for basic rights in Rawalpindi and our ID card issue still isn’t resolved. Me and a lot of khuwajasiras like us want to be educated. I can’t even write my own name. We all deserve rights of education as education will bring us new opportunities. We’ll be able to refine ourselves. I may be able to find a job if I want to, but even if I do find a job, there’s a lot of mocking and teasing that makes us very uncomfortable in a normal environment.” The event continued, as Sid introduced the theme of the festival followed by six short films, all on different subjects, starting with ‘Bird of Paradise’, which was a 10 minute Telugu film directed by Rahul MM. The short film was a scene from the life of a khuwajasira. In only 10 minutes, we’re able to see the kind of jobs they get and the discrimination and abuse khuwajasiras face on a daily basis, yet they’ve become immune to it. The group of three khuwajasira friends is seen, enjoying a basic Indian meal together after a long day of work. The film leaves a strong impact on how people treat them and how they settle with day-to-day abuse. ‘A Meeting with Noor Jehan’ is another short film, where a young boy who sells balloons on the streets comes across a transgender person who is a lookalike of film actress Saima. The young boy seems very charmed by her grace. Zeerak Ali, while shedding light on the film ‘Narayanpura’, said, “‘Narayanpura’ is a nine-minute long film, shot in the streets of Rancholine. The film emphasises on inter-faith harmony in a small area called Narayanpura, where people from different communities live together. This multi-cultural community is very tolerant of each other’s beliefs, rituals and celebrations. Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs live together and set a very beautiful example of a loving neighbour for the world to see. Director Zeerak Ali and Humad Nisar brought this beautiful hidden colony into the limelight through this film. Pakistan is notoriously known for its oppressive religious laws, but in the streets of Narayanpura, it isn’t so.” ‘Waahi’ which means harvest, was another short film based on a woman farmer’s life, who works in the fields all alone and against all odds to provide for her family. The lady single-handedly, learns how to irrigate and grow a harvest. Her story is mind bending. There was also a session for dialogue and questions after the film and an excellent dance performance by Gul by the end of the show. The writer can be reached at zarimua@gmail.com