Senate passes bill safeguarding rights of transgender people

ISLAMABAD: The Senate unanimously approved on Wednesday the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2017.

In the session today, the bill was jointly sponsored by Karim Ahmed Khawaja, Rubina Khalid, Rubina Irfan, Samina Saeed and Kasloom Perveen.

The bill moved by Senator Karim Ahmed Khawaja in the House, aims to provide for protection, relief and rehabilitation of rights of the transgender persons and ensure their welfare.

Meanwhile, 15 reports of various standing committees were presented in the House.

The transgender community, in general, remains underprivileged in Pakistan.

In a first in the history of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government on Monday issued driving licences to two transgender persons.

Why was the transgender community undercounted?

The 6th, and much delayed, Pakistan’s census calculates the population of those who identify themselves as transgenders to be slightly over 10,000. Does that seem right to anyone, who has ever met...

In 2012, the National Database and Registration Authority started providing transgendered community members with three gender categories on the registration form for a computerised national identity card (NIC).