[News] [Pakistan] Despite issues, transgenders celebrate voting rights
Stephanie Stevens
Despite issues, transgenders celebrate voting rights
By Asad Kharal / Iftikhar Firdous / Mudassir Raja / Rabia Ali
Published: January 26, 2012
RAWALPINDI/ KARACHI/PESHAWAR/LAHORE: Transgenders took a giant leap
towards becoming fully fledged citizens of the land as voter
registration for the community began in Punjab. They were also issued
with Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) by the National
Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
Special counters have been established across the province to ensure
the registration of all eunuchs, thought to number about 13,500 in
Punjab. At least 45 votes were registered to transgenders in Lahore
alone on Wednesday.
The social welfare department said that special counters have been set
up in all 36 districts in the province at their district offices, as
well as at offices of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The day was not all joy, as protests erupted after it emerged NADRA
would charge Rs1,000 for each ID card. But the protests achieved their
objective. After the fees were cancelled, transgenders celebrated and
chanted slogans lauding Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Chief
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
Another issue that has cropped up involves the gender and paternity to
be stated on the CNICs, which is yet to be resolved. According to
NADRA, the cards will bear the father’s name of the transgenders, who
would prefer their ‘guru’ to be named instead. The issue is set to be
settled by the Supreme Court next month.
The gender column is also a matter of confusion. It seems that, in
some parts of Punjab, NADRA will term the gender ‘female’. Originally,
through, a NADRA spokesman said in a statement that as per the Supreme
Court’s instructions, third genders could have male transgender,
female transgender or Khunsa-e-mushkil written on their ID card,
according to their own preference.
In Rawalpindi, at least 21 voters were registered and 25 NICs were
issued to members of the transgender community. Many eunuchs refused
to obtain a CNIC card, though, as Nadra officials of NADRA pressed
them to enter the name of their actual father instead of their guru.
Almas Bobi, representing a eunuchs’ association in Rawalpindi, said
they would inform the Supreme Court next month about the
non-registration of names of gurus by Nadra officials.
“Many of us had old identity cards where our sex is mentioned male and
the name of gurus is mentioned in the column of father,” Almas said.
“There are many of our friends who do not want to have the name of
their father after they were abandoned in childhood by their families
and they were brought up by their gurus.”
But at the end of the day, optimism reigned supreme as others were
looking forward to playing a fuller part in political life. “The CNIC
and right to vote will increase our self-confidence and self-respect.
We will further ask for employment quotas for eunuchs in different
fields,” said Miss Sana.
Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed said if there were any issues,
they would be decided by the Supreme Court, and the registration
process would be completed in accordance with new directions from the
court.
In Sindh, NADRA’s provincial general manager, Brig (r) Zahid Hussain,
told The Express Tribune that the process of voter registration of
transgenders would begin on January 28.
Brig Hussain said that Sindh was the first province to issue the new
cards to the eunuchs. “About a month ago, we issued the modified NICs
to the eunuchs. In the new cards, the transgender in the gender
category have been mentioned as khawaja sirah.
Up north, however, cultural constraints and a lack of understanding
about the transgender community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have delayed the
registration process for a national identity card.
Nesho, 25, was born as Zeeshan but prefers to be referred to in the
feminine pronoun. She has not visited her house in the last 17 years.
“In Pakthun society we are considered a stigma, we cannot go back to
our family,” she says, adding that she lives with her guru as she has
nowhere else to go.
Since the government decided to register the transgender community,
Neesha and others of her community belonging to Pakhtun families have
not been able to get the IDs of their parents to complete the process
for their own registration. “I have brothers and they find me
humiliating to their honor,” she says with a brave smile.
Farzana, the president of the Shemale Association in Peshawar, says
that, with the government reluctant to issue NICs with the name of the
guru, there is little hope that the people of her community will be
registered. “Whether in legal or social matters, it’s the guru that’s
responsible,” she says.
Another problem is the number of Afghans in the transgender community.
“The situation in Afghanistan is not comforting to our kind at all;
our people are sexually harassed and sometimes even tortured, leaving
no other option but to migrate to Pakistan,” says Farzana of Afghan
eunuchs.
“We have lost our conscience,” says Farzana, adding a sombre note to
an otherwise celebratory day. “However,” she says, “it’s our identity
that we can be proud of.”
(Read: Transgender rights
<http://tribune.com.pk/story/294796/transgender-rights/> )
© 2012 The Express Tribune News Network