THATTA, May 28: The provincial head of the People’s Doctors Forum (PDF) and Dr Karim Khuwaja, a psychiatrist, has urged civil society to help the traumatised transsexual male Shumail Raj and his wife Shehzina Tariq overcome the crisis they are facing.

Talking to Dawn, Dr Khuwaja said that at least liberal and educated section of society should be realistic on the subject and be able to differentiate between homosexual and transsexual people. It was their moral duty to support the couple, he stressed.

Citing examples of the civilised world, particularly the religious government in neighbouring Iran, Dr Khuwaja revealed that Iran's clerics never equated trans-genderism with homosexuality. The government there paid for surgeries and helped individuals obtain their new identification documents, he added.

He attributed the chromosomic abnormality to urge for genetic change and said that existence of both “X” and “Y” chromosomes resulted in compulsion from within to get the gender changed.

The psychiatrist said that as per medical ethics, transsexual process was not a crime and it was high time that Pakistan reviewed its taboos and accepted truth in the light of modern scientific developments.

He said that the government functionaries and educated people should join hands to confront unscientific patterns of injustice and prejudices in the case in question to help the couple.

Shezina Tariq, a master-degree holder in Islamic Studies, herself proposed Shumail, her cousin, after finding no other option to stop her father from giving her hand in marriage to a relative for Rs1.5 million. “It was the fear of forced marriage which compelled me to convince Shumail for marriage, I was fully aware of Shumail’s physical condition,” she had told journalists.

The couple had approached Lahore High Court after ‘marriage’ to seek protection against the girl’s father but the court ordered to detain them after finding that the ‘husband’ was a female.

DIES: Seth Rehmatullah Khawaja, son of Faqir Mohammad Issa Khawaja, well known social activist and president of Shia Jamait, died in Mirpur Bathoro town at the age of 59 on Sunday.