ISLAMABAD: The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Thurs­day directed the Nadra to submit a report within 15 days on the definition of transgender and the procedure for issuing identity cards to them.

A bench headed by acting FSC Chief Justice Syed Muhammad Anwar took up the case filed against the Trans­gender Persons (Protec­tion of Rights) Act, 2018.

During the hearing, the chief justice asked how Nadra defined transgender male and transgender female.

The counsel for Nadra replied that Regulation 13 of the issuing authority had become ineffective with the introduction of the Transgender Act, adding that even before the act was promulgated, Nadra would issue identity cards to transgender individuals. Since the act, transgender individuals have the letter ‘X’ written for their gender, instead of M or F, he added.

The chief justice also asked the counsel to explain under what procedure Nadra was determining the transgender identity.

Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed informed the court that film named ‘Joyland’ about transgender persons was being released in Pakistan on Nov 18.

He claimed that the Censor Board had cleared the release of the film without even viewing it.

He requested the court to issue a stay order on all matters related to the Transgender Act until the issue was resolved.

The FSC chief justice asked how many people had benefited from the law.

He said according to reports, the number of beneficiaries of the Transgender Act was zero.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2022