HYDERABAD: A community consultation session on ‘Drafting Sindh Tra­nsgender Protection Policy Bill-2020’ was held under the aegis of the Civil Society Support Programme (CSSP) here on Thursday.

Hailing the draft legislation, the participants said that transgenders deserved to be given all human rights meant for any other citizen of the country.

They discussed the bill and shared their views on how to improve it in order to ensure that it fully benefited the transgender segment of the society.

The participants obser­ved that incidents like intimidation, murderous attack and sexual assault against transgenders had been on the increase which was a matter of serious concern.

Kami Chaudhry, leader of a transgenders’ organisation, appreciated that proposals were obtained for the legislation that could ensure that transgenders were able to show their identity as per their own liking and it would be officially acknowledged by all, including the Na­­tional Database and Regi­stration Authority (Nadra).

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member of the Sindh Assembly Tanzeela Qam­brani said that transgenders were human beings and part of this society. They must get equal rights and that’s why the Sindh government was working on the transgenders protection bill, she said.

She said it would be an important legislation and would be strictly enforced.

MPA Qambrani noted that transgenders were facing inequalities and injustices in society which was condemnable.

Nuzhat Shireen, chairperson of the Sindh Commission on the Status of Women (SCSW), Imdad Chandio, Sindh coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Kashif Bajeer, Pushpa Kumari, Seema Maheshwari and others expressed the view that transgenders were facing discrimination and hatred not only in Sindh but across Pakistan.

They said the community was an integral part of this society and could not be separated from it. Transgenders must be given equal rights as guaranteed in the Constitution for all other citizens, they stressed.

They noted that eight consultation programmes had been held at grass-root level in Sindh to get input and proposals for making effective the proposed law.

Pointing out that there had been an alarming increase in the incidents like murder, intimidation and sexual assault involving transgenders, they said that in the absence of relevant laws, they felt insecure. The state was responsible for protecting them, they added.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2020