Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Transgender community on Monday expressed strong dismay over exclusion of their column from the form of National Census and filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC) under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In their petition, they said that it was very unfortunate situation as the Census forms, initially prepared, had a column for transgender under disabilities and now the government had deleted the entire column and it only included male and female columns, ignoring the transgender. The provincial Alliance working for the rights of transgender “TransAction” also expressed concern and disappointment on this situation.

Farzana, president of the Alliance said that the Census without documenting the trans population means wipe out the transgender community from the development agenda of the country. Another Paro, a Trans Activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while expressing her views to media said “This act is in contradiction with the orders of the High Court. We are equal citizens. We have filed a writ petition in the High Court to safeguard our fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution of Pakistan.”

She said that time had come to ascertain and understand the exact number of transgender Pakistanis and their needs. The TransAction Alliance through advocate Gul Rehman Mohmand and Barrister Hashim Raza under Article 199 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan filed a writ petition versus Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Establishment, Islamabad, Secretary Interior Government of Pakistan, Director General Bureau of Statistics.

Provincial Director, Bureau of Statistics KP, Chairman NADRA, Provincial Director General NADRA, KP, Director General Ministry of Human Rights, Federal Regional Director Human Rights, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkwha, through Chief Secretary, Provincial Director of Human Rights, Secretary Social Welfare, Govt of Khyber Pakhtukhwa, Chief Election Commissioner Pakistan and Provincial Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.