Alisha, a transgender and an activist for the rights of transgenders, was mercilessly shot multiple times on Sunday. An action that can be categorised as born out of sheer antipathy, Alisha’s murder points to the grave proportions intolerance has reached in the country. As if the shooting of an innocent human being by a gang of bigoted criminals was not appalling enough, the doctors at the Lady Reading Hospital reportedly wasted precious time debating whether Alisha, in her critical condition, should be shifted to the male or the female ward. It is unfortunate beyond words that in a matter of life and death maintaining segregation is more important in a hospital than saving lives. The hospital staff on their part maintained that the delay was due to the objections of other people in the wards who did not want a transgender to be treated alongside them. In a country like Pakistan where countless people have been victim of terrorism, hospital emergency units are still untrained to give immediate and best available treatment simply on the basis of the intensity of the trauma, wound or ailment. To say that hospital authorities would jeopardise a patient’s life merely to appease intolerance some people may have against another human being is not just the height of criminal negligence punishable by law, but also a stark manifestation of inhumanity towards a person fighting for life. In the light of apathetic attitude and its justification by hospital authorities, it would not be farfetched to conclude that an abhorrent form of apartheid mentality prevails in Pakistan in which transgenders elicit such contempt that their lives are not given even an iota of value.
It is highly unfortunate that violence against transgenders is perpetrated on a wide scale in Pakistan. In another incident that took place earlier in April, a group of transgenders fell victim to a deplorable act of violence in Swabi. In this case, a gang of men tried to abduct a group of transgenders who were on their way back from a wedding. On the resistance of transgenders, two were shot dead while one was gang raped. Such deplorable incidents show that Pakistan is not a safe place for people who are different, especially transgenders. And in this increasingly intolerant society in which space is getting increasingly protracted for those who deviate from the norm, it is essential that the loud and violent voices of intolerance be shunned.
There is much confusion over transgenders, transvestites, and transsexuals in Pakistan. Transgender is a broad categorisation that is used to point towards both androgynous individuals and cross-dressers with the latter being more specifically called transvestites. Transsexuals are those individuals who suffer from a neurological condition in which their physical sex does not conform to their psychological gender. In any case it must be realised that these individuals are entitled to freely practise their lifestyle choices. Unfortunately, the idiomatic expression ‘live and let live’ is lost on most Pakistanis as they do not miss any opportunity to interfere in other people’s lives. While this is a nuisance for most people, it reaches life-threatening proportions for marginalised people like transgenders. And in a society in which transgenders are actively discriminated against, they are left with little choice but to adopt extravagant personas in order to fit in the occupational roles that society has chosen for them.
There is a dire need in Pakistan to address the intolerance that has so deeply ingrained itself at the societal level. This can only be done if a safe environment is created for alternate ideas. The murder of Alisha shows that those who raise their voice for their rights are silenced by narrow-minded bigots, and the fear that this causes prevents others from raising their voice too. Hence, an effective security apparatus is needed, which is able to take to task all those who take law into their own hands. Unless activists are not secure, the loudest voices of intolerance will continue to prevail in Pakistan.*