Despite vociferous claims of She-Male Associations and government departments dealing with registering eunuchs on electoral roll, only 1043 eunuchs of the total 80,000 enrolled with Social Welfare Department registered themselves in the voting list with all District Election Commission Offices and only 480 cases were processed by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) for issuance of Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) across the province.
The sources privy to this development told Pakistan Today that the officials of all these three departments had lodged their protests even before the registration process had started that they felt embarrassed due to the eunuchs’ frivolous behaviour and they(officers) had only set about the task because of the orders from the apex court. However, it is clear that even these departments have failed to cover the paltry 2,467 numbers of eunuchs registered with Social Welfare Department Punjab.
After the directions of the Supreme Court, the SWD in collaboration with NADRA and District Election Commission started one-window operation service for registration of eunuchs in voting list and issuance of CNIC to them on January 25 and prior to this, a huge amount was also spent for publishing advertisements in all the major newspapers across the country to motivate them to participate in the elections. The reasons cited behind this low turn out is the lack of interest of government departments and the differences that have erupted between different she-male associations in Pakistan on the issue of leading the community.
The second reason is that the eunuchs consider this exercise to be futile while some critics say illiteracy and ignorance are the main reasons behind the lack of political awareness amongst eunuchs in particular and people in general. Some officials have also claimed that the government does not have any data on eunuchs, which makes the registration process all the more difficult. Most of the eunuchs who had appeared before NADRA mobile van had failed to meet the requirements for the issuance of CNIC and were not checked upon later.
DISCOURAGING STATISTICS: According to data available with Pakistan Today, only six districts of the province Dera Ghazi Khan, Khushab, Layya, Lodhran, Nankana Sahib and Rajanpur, exceeded the number of eunuchs already enrolled with SWD while in remaining 30 districts the performance of these departments remained poor. In Attock, 26 eunuchs were enrolled with SWD and only 12 visited the district Election Commission Office and 9 cases were processed for CNICs on January 25.
In Bhakar, 16 were registered with SWD, 15 visited the EC office and 15 cases were processed for CNICs, in Bahawalnagar 82 were registered, 68 visited election commission and 23 were processed CNICs, in Bahawlpur 73 enrolled, 63 visited the EC and 28 cases were processed for CNICs, in Chakwal 22 were enrolled, 14 visited and only 2 cases were processed for CNICs, in Chiniot were 24 enrolled, 20 visited and 20 cases were processed CNICs, in Dera Ghazi Khan 17 were registered, 21 visited and 09 cases were processed for CNICs, in Faisalabad 257 enrolled, 41 visited while 15 cases were processed for CNICs, in Gujranwala 98 were registered, 53 visited and 33 cases were processed for CNICs, in Gujrat 69 were enrolled, 5 visited and 0 cases were processed for CNICs, in Hafizabad 57 were enrolled, 25 visited and 04 cases were processed for CNICs, in Jhang 36 were registered, 12 visited and 12 cases were processed for CNICs, in Jhelum 56 registered, 16 visited and 04 cases were processed for CNICs, in Kasur 52 were enrolled, 49 visited and 06 cases were processed for CNICs, in Khanewal, 44 were enrolled, 37 visited and 27 cases were processed for CNICs, in Khushab 27 were enrolled, 28 visited and 06 cases were processed for CNICs, in Lahore, 273 were enrolled, 61 visited and 32 cases were processed for CNICs, in Layya 12 were enrolled, 16 visited and 0 cases were processed for CNICs, in Lodhran, 14 were enrolled, 19 visited and 05 cases were processed for CNICs, in Mandi Bahaudin, 34 were enrolled, 05 visited and 04 cases were processed for CNICs, in Mianwali 09 were enrolled, 09 visited and 09 cases were processed for CNICs, in Multan 54 were enrolled, 13 visited and 07 cases were processed for CNICs, in Muzaffargarh 30 were enrolled, 30 visited and 20 cases were processed for CNICs, in Nankana Sahib 35 were enrolled, 64 visited and 12 cases were processed for CNICs, in Narowal 5 were enrolled, 02 visited and 01 cases were processed for CNICs, in Okara 177 were enrolled, 20 visited and 18 cases were processed for CNICs, in Pakpatan 40 were enrolled, 38 visited and 13 cases were processed for CNICs, in Rahim Yar Khan 114 were enrolled, 92 visited and 12 cases were processed for CNICs, in Rawalpindi 248 were enrolled, 27 visited and 27 cases were processed for CNICs, in Rajanpur, 26 were enrolled, 55 visited and 49 cases were processed for CNICs, in Sahiwal 39 were enrolled, 21 visited and 08 cases were processed for CNICs, in Sargodha 170 were enrolled, 07 visited and 07 cases were processed for CNICs, in Sheikhupura 68 were enrolled, 10 visited and 10 cases were processed for CNICs, in Sialkot 57 were enrolled, 18 visited and 02 cases were processed for CNICs, in Tuba Tek Singh 44 were enrolled, 16 visited and 14 cases were processed forand in district Vehari 63 were enrolled with SWD, 32 visited the election commission office and 17 cases were processed for CNICs.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Social Welfare Department Director Administration Abdul Qaddus Akhtar said they had started only one-day one window operation in all the 36 districts of the province in collaboration of NADRA and District Election Offices. He said after January 25, eunuchs would follow the same procedure as directed for other citizens for registration of votes and acquisition of CNICs and no further privilege were allowed to eunuchs as per understanding of the concerned departments. He said they were compiling the data and it would be submitted before the apex court after necessary steps. He said the number of registered eunuchs would be increased day by day as they were continuing their support for facilitating them.
CONFLICT WITHIN THE EUNUCH RANKS: It is interesting to mention here that three leading associations of eunuchs from Rawalpindi, Lahore and Muzaffargarh, it was only She-Male Association based in Muzaffargarh that was active in this process while other associations led by Almas Bobby remained aloof.
Talking to Pakistan Today, the president of the She-Male Association Shahana Abbas Shani said her association was motivating eunuchs to come forward for registration of votes and acquisition of CNICs so that they could be integrated into the larger social and political landscape. Shani said they were happy that their equal status was cemented and now they had become first-class citizens.
‘WHO CARES’: Talking to Pakistan Today, a eunuch Laila said she did not go to EC office for registration because she thought it a futile exercise. She said the society’s more conservative elements would never accept them and eunuchs would be treated as second-class citizen as they were toys for the society.
Muddassar Ali, a human activist, said these small numbers registered with the EC across the province were not bad since in Pakistan it was first time that eunuchs were granted the rights of casting votes. He said in coming days the numbers would increase remarkably as eunuchs would get more confidence after participating in politics and other constructive activities.
