Daily Times

It was less than pleasing, to put it very mildly, to see an anchor of a Lahore city television channel run after a group of trans people at a deserted park and later grill them about what he called ‘immoral’ activities. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a landmark judgement, granted equal human rights to the trans people and ordered authorities to recognise them a separate legal identity on their national identity cards. Since then, no policymakers have taken stock of the government’s measures for the welfare of this marginalised segment of our society. As now a good 10 years have passed and there is a need to study just how much the judgement of the top court transformed their lives. No work has been done to analyse how successful the implementation of the judgment was, and what policies are needed in order to promote equity and equality for all.

Meanwhile, we feel a little solace in news such as the induction of trans persons in TV channels as news anchors, and recruitment of a few trans people in the police department in Sindh. These isolated developments do not make a turnaround in the lives of trans communities. The Supreme Court initiative and the core judgment were prompted by the identity factor. Identity can be referred to as a term which can be social and personal. Identity plays a crucial role in ‘Identity Politics’ which is a phrase that is widely used to imply numerous political activities and the speculation that is formed due to certain social groups who share their experiences of injustice.

The TV shows also puts reporting ethics in the spotlight. The way the trans person was hauled up, asked derogatory questions and forced to listen to a morality sermon by the anchor sheds light on the ratings phobia and lack of training of media persons. The reporting trip, which involved lots of hectic leg work and human resources, could have been used to educate the public about the problems trans people face in their daily lives. There are hardly any jobs for them, pleaded the trans person held hostage by the TV crew. Just like the people on the streets, the media treats trans people as alien and ‘immoral’. For this reason, a majority of trans people face issues of poverty and illiteracy. *