Daily Times

First Transgender Rehabilitation Centre of the country will be established in Lahore for the neglected segment of society.

This was announced by Punjab Minister for Bait-ul-Mal and Social Welfare Syed Yawar Abbas Bukhari.

He was addressing a function at Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI), attended by philanthropists, industrialists, representatives of NGOs and social welfare activists.

The minister said that different social ills were related with transgenders and the government intended to redress their genuine grievances by involving them in productive activities. “The proposed centre would provide them with social, moral, economic, financial and psychological help,” he added. Stressing the importance of social welfare, he said it was of paramount importance to establish a true welfare state as envisioned by Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) about 1,400 years ago. He said that the scope of the department was so wide that the government alone could not bear its expenses, hence NGOs and philanthropists must play their role to mitigate the sufferings of the poor and marginalised segments. He appreciated the business community of Faisalabad for undertaking huge welfare projects.

The minister particularly appreciated the role of local industrialists in providing the best possible facilities to prisoners. “They also arranged million’s of rupees to pay the fines for the release of prisoners, who had completed their sentence,” he said and added that in view of their services for humanity, he wanted them to cooperate with the Social Welfare Department.

He said currently a number of projects had been launched by the Social Welfare Department including Nasheman, Santzar and Gehwara. He said that Nasheman was actually a centre for rehabilitation of differently-abled children. He said that business community, in collaboration with the Social Welfare Department, must equip these children with necessary skills to make them productive part of society.

He mentioned a Member Punjab Assembly (MPA) from Multan who had donated his entire grant of Rs 150 million to Social Welfare Department.