EDITORIAL: It’s been four years when the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was passed by Parliament, a progressive law aimed at ending exclusion and discrimination against transsexual persons. They are subjected to all sorts of deprivations just because they do not fit into either male or female gender identity.
Some religio-political groups, including the JUI-F, have chosen to challenge the law filing several petitions in the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) claiming — out of ignorance or some worldly considerations — that the law is “repugnant to Islamic injunctions”. The court’s observations suggest the petitioners need to brace for disappointment.
Hearing the case the other day, a two-member bench of the FSC, headed by Chief Justice Dr Syed Mohammad Anwar, took serious notice of the plight of transgender children terming it a scar on the face of society. “It is unfortunate”, said justice Anwar, “that these children are abandoned by their own families, and as a result they are abused by criminals and fall prey to paedophiles and other predators in our society.”
The lives of transsexual people even more miserable as they turn old, he added. Sadly, the petitioners want to perpetuate all these vulnerabilities. The FSC has made it clear that such attitudes are not acceptable and the subject law needs to be effectively implemented.
The government and the human rights ministry representatives have been directed to ensure, as per Section 6 (a) of the law, protection and rehabilitation of transgender persons, and also to provide them with medical, psychological and counselling facilities.
Equally, if not more importantly, Justice Anwar said there should be protection homes for intersex children abandoned by their families, as well as for older persons in that gender category. The ministry representatives were also asked about the conduct of society towards transgender community. It came as no surprise that if they struggled to offer a satisfactory answer.
As for those questioning gender identification and demanding medical examination, a transgender rights activist, Reem Sharif, sought and was granted two weeks by the Shariat Court to present science-based arguments. It should not take her much effort to prove her point. Medical science in advanced countries has already established that it is not a behavioural issue, but is caused by a biological factor as sex chromosomes play a role in determining an individual’s gender identity.
In other words, it is the work of Nature, which should not be called into question on the say-so of some mortal men. Those falling in the third sex category must have the protections and rights the law promises them. That will also bring about a positive change in societal attitudes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022