November 20, 2024
By Shaukat Korai
KARACHI
As a predecessor to the upcoming Sindh Moorat March, which will be held in Hyderabad on Sunday November 24, the transgender community gathered at the Karachi Press Club to speak about their demands. They specified that there would be around 12 demands that they had drafted. Many of these revolved around the prejudice and discrimination the community faced on a daily basis, and their demand from the government to put an end to it. They complained about having issues related to housing, employment, education and safety in the press conference that they held.
One of the demands was about a more transparent and fairer criminal justice system. There must be strict vigilance of the crimes against them and that instant action must be taken to protect them. They also demanded for the rethinking of the Qisas and Diyat laws as under these, the murders of khwajasirahs is occasionally ‘forgiven’.
“Khwajasirahs have been killed in thousands across Pakistan, but we have seen success in only one case,” said Shehzadi Rai, a transgender activist. “All the other cases came to an end because of the Qisas and Diyat laws.”
Rai said that whenever it came to a call for justice for the khwajasirah community, or a demand to put an end to the violence and discrimination against them, there is talk of a medical checkup.
“We will not tolerate any humiliation,” she continued. “We will not tolerate that you come up with a five doctor medical bench including one cleric, who will sit and judge us about our gender and undress and shame us.”
Speaking about the rental rates that khwajasirahs had to face due to discrimination, Rai said that they had to sometimes pay double the amount, especially in Karachi.
“Even in public transport there should be a quota of our seats for our community,” she added.
The trans-activists in the press conference also demanded a change in the education curriculum across the country. They said that things in the curriculum were not based on facts. “We need to identify the cultural history of khwajasirahs,” said Zehrish Khanzadi, a trans-activist also present at the conference. “However it is unfortunate that our curriculum is a biased one. It only remembers a few selected people from history. In the struggle for freedom, not everyone was a Muslim. There were Hindus and Sikhs as well. Likewise the role of the khwajasirahs has been there from long before the subcontinent took shape.”
They also demanded that there be better implementation of quota based jobs for the community.
“There is no implementation on the 0,5% quota for us, and we want to point this out for the Sindh government for follow up,” said Rai. “Till date not one khwajasirah has been recruited under this quota.
Bindiya Rana, a leader of the transgender community said they were not asking for anything special. Rather whatever their demands are, they are also other people’s rights. Like every citizen has been given their rights under the constitution, khwajasirahs must also be given rights.
“We are asking for our needs – for what every citizen in Pakistan wants and needs,” she said. “But whenever we ask for our rights, a religious front immediately forms and takes this opportunity to blast us. But our demands are all according to religion and constitution both.”
Moorat March
The Sindh Moorat March will be held in the Rani Bagh, Hyderabad on November 24. It identifies itself as ‘Sindh’s indigenous local Trans Pride’. It has been taking place since 2022 and been placing its demands in front of the government.