Members of Pakistan’s trans community. | Photo: Facebook/TransAction Pakistan
Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections, its trans and intersex communities have released a political manifesto for the first time.
The Transgender and Intersex Community Election Manifesto 2018 was released this week. It calls for the communities to be included in the political agenda ahead of July’s elections.
TransAction Pakistan headed the manifesto alongside other trans and intersex organizations.
They are calling for an inclusive political process and protection of their communities when it comes to policy decisions.
The manifesto includes 33 demands. Some of those include; asking for quotas in the political positions, allowing political demonstrations and reviewing the legal frameworks which lead to the discrimination of gender minorities.
High Court appeal
In the Peshawar region, which has a high trans population, the community there filed a petition to the High Court to require the government to introduce a quota for trans people to get government jobs.
Rahim Dada Khan a trans person filed the petition in the Peshawar High Court, according to a report in the Tribune.
Khan argued that their advanced tertiary qualifications should get them a job in the education department as a teacher in basic pay scale.
Pakistan has made moves to improve the lives of its trans community. It has a third gender option on passports and national ID cards.
Last year it counted trans people on the national census for the first time. But some in the trans community argued they were not counted properly.
Most recently the parliament has voted in favor of changes to bill protecting the rights of trans people. Some of the changes include removing the need for approval from a medical board for a person to affirm their gender. The bill must now also pass the National Assembly and receive presidential assent before it becomes official law.
And over the weekend the country made history with its first trans news anchor delivering her first live news broadcast.
