LAHORE (JAN 09, 2017): Lahore High Court (LHC) today instructed the federal government, National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) and the interior ministry that Pakistan’s transgender community should be included in the national population census being held in March this year.
If approved by the federal govt, it would be for the first time in the history of Pakistan to include transgenders in the census.
According to a media report, Waqar Ali, a transgender filed a petition in the LHC last year in November, urging the government to include enrolment of his community in upcoming census and issuance of national identity cards mentioning their gender.
“Waqar filed a writ petition through Advocate Sheraz Zaka pleading that the transgender community has been marginalised, citing an event witnessed in Sialkot where a transgender was tortured,” said the report.
The petitioner, when interviewed by media, said that for being transgender they are not respected by society and even their parents do not own them.
“The transgender community should be allowed to mention their gender in national identity cards and they must be registered in census,” he said, adding that the court should direct the federal government to legislate on welfare of transgender community, keeping in consideration its international obligations under international conventions on civil and political rights ratified in 2010.
