“May God give children of our kind to these merciless people,” members of the transgender community were cursing the murderers of Alisha and the hospital staff at her funeral, the first ever funeral of a transvestite that took place in public.
Alisha, a transgender, was shot multiple times last week, allegedly by a disgruntled customer. She was rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) Peshawar, but succumbed to her wounds three days later. Unfortunately, she could not receive intensive medical attention simply because she was from a community that has been ostracised, alienated and grossly neglected by our society. She belonged to that section of society that is destined to be ‘performers’ at weddings, work as prostitutes, and as beggars in the latter part of their life. That was the reason that despite her critical condition medical staff kept asking Alisha and her colleagues if they only danced, and how much they charged for their ‘services’. Even the blood laboratory staff asked them if their blood was HIV positive or not. The hospital staff was not able to decide whether to keep Alisha in a male or female ward. Attendees of female patients barred Alisha and her colleagues from entering the female ward. They also teased and ridiculed them, and were laughing at them when they were making efforts to save Alisha’s life.
It was the fifth reported case against transgender activists in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province this year. According to members of the Trans-Action, 45 transgender people have been killed in the province in the last two years. Situation in other provinces is no different. The police and other law enforcement agencies are bound to protect all citizens, but unfortunately, it is a bitter truth that despite being the most vulnerable community, transgender people have been left at the mercy of this ruthless society. To make matters worse, according to members of the Trans-Action, the police ask for bribes when they see a transgender working at night.
It is natural to blame government for such issues, and rightly so, as it is the duty of government to provide equal opportunities and ensure safety of all its citizens, but we as a society have certain moral duties as well. We as human beings have certain duties to our fellow human beings. But most of us do not even consider people of the transgender community as our fellow human beings. Even their parents and families do not treat them as their children but as ‘different offspring’ or a ‘curse’. Their parents are ashamed of referring to them as their children. Even when their families choose to accept their different offspring as humans and not a curse, they are ridiculed by society. This constant berating forces most of the transgender people to run away from home. Most of them consider their birth the single biggest regret in life.
The silver lining is that a non-government organisation, Akhuwat, has launched a special initiative with the Fountain House for the transgender community of Pakistan, named Khawaja Sara Rehabilitation Programme, which aims to uplift financial structure of this community, and reintegrate them back into society. It allows every khawaja sara (transgender) registered under its programme to be given a monthly stipend, and encourages them to participate in giving talks on stage and sharing their experiences with the rest of the community. The Akhuwat Cloth Bank, another project started by Akhuwat, also employs khawaja saras for distribution of packages to the needy.
The Khawaja Sara Society (KSS) founded by Naz Male Health society under the Global Fund Grant Round 9 in 2010 is another non-government organisation in Pakistan. It is the biggest transgender community organisation with 300,000 members, volunteers and associates across the country. The KSS is striving to ensure that transgender individuals have the same rights that their cisgender counterparts are entitled to. But such measures taken by non-profit organisations can never match the impact that a national policy can have, and therefore, it is incumbent upon government to open up schemes for rehabilitation of transsexuals and transgender persons in our society.
Being the most marginalised community in Pakistan, it is no wonder that most of them do not even think of studying at a college or university, get a white-collar job, or live a ‘respectable’ life. This society teaches its members to not even look at the faces of these ‘mutants’. So unless we change our attitude towards them, they will continue to suffer.
Government needs to provide equal opportunities and protection to the transgender community. Although in 2009 the Supreme Court of Pakistan officially recognised them as the third gender, allowing their third gender certification on their national identification cards, and ability to vote in the election, but they still face difficulties in registering as citizens of the country. Government needs to allocate a certain percentage of quotas in jobs and educational institutions, and raise public awareness regarding this issue. Lessons regarding equal treatment of transgender people should be included in the curricula at schools, but most importantly, we need to accept them as our fellow human beings. Our acceptance alone will help mitigate the damage that has been inflicted on Pakistan’s persecuted transgender community.
The writer is a freelance journalist, and can be reached at [email protected]