ISLAMABAD: Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights Wednesday gave recommendations to ascertain the identity of transgenders from their computerised national identity cards (CNIC) rather than conducting a medical board.
Transgenders have already been stigmatised in the society and if the medical test was made mandatory for them, it would be like rubbing salt into their wounds and would aggravate their sense of deprivation, members of the committee recommended.
Discussing the “The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2017” moved by Senators Rubina Khalid, Rubina Irfan, Samina Saeed and Kalsoom Parveen, the committee’s chairperson Senator Nasreen Jalil said that two bills were referred to the committee. The first one was regarding the rights of this community while the other one proposed criminal action against those who violated their rights.
This committee was taking up the bill on the rights of transgenders while the other one should be discussed in the standing committee on interior, she said, adding that the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) would further secure their rights.
Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the CII recommendations were provisional as the council had not passed them yet. He said that the committee cannot approve them unless its formal approval from the department concerned was sought.
CII Research Director General Dr Inamul Haq explained to the committee that it would be passed at the next meeting of the council scheduled to be held on February 8. Senator Farhat further added that the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would CNICs to transgenders on the basis of a NOC submitted by them and no medical test was required in this regard. However, he said that if anyone challenged their gender, the medical board could be constituted on court orders.
He further said the KP government had announced the construction of a medical facility costing Rs 500,000 for transgenders and had also issued 1,000 health cards to them. Besides, soft loans up to Rs 10,000 were also given to transgenders to ensure their economic empowerment and for the purpose, the same procedure had been adopted.
Senator Mir Kabir Shahi said that it was the responsibility of the parents to register the gender of their children correctly, adding that those transgenders who were not owned by their families should be considered a part of the society.
Senator Rubina Khalid, who moved the bill, said the transgender community was deprived of their rights and it was imperative to pass the bill to protect them and provide them equal space in the society. Special privileges were being announced for transgenders, including increasing their quota in the education system. The chairperson, on the recommendation of all the committee members, said that the bill would be passed after taking formal approval from CII.