PESHAWAR (Staff Report) – Amid all the overstatements of PTI chairman Imran Khan aimed at bringing revolutionary changes in the country, transgenders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are still worried about their voting rights in ongoing local bodies elections.
Three eunuchs, who arrived on a polling station in Peshawar on Saturday afternoon to cast their votes in a hope of bringing change in the country’s democratic system, were badly thrashed by the other mighty and male voters. Later on, police arrived and taken them into custody, saving the transgenders from attackers’ wrath.
After decades of neglect and persecution, Pakistan’s transgender minority was offered new hope following a court decision in 2011 to give the long-oppressed community the right to vote.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court issued a ruling on November 14 ordering the country’s election commission to collect data from the transgender community and register them as voters.
The move paved the way for Pakistan’s minority community of transgender men – known in the Urdu language as “hijras” and estimated to number 500,000 – to vote in last general elections and nominate their own candidates for parliament.
The hijras’ right to vote – unthinkable few years ago – is a groundbreaking achievement in Pakistan, a deeply conservative country where ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities have often been victims of violence and persecution.
However, Saturday’s incident depicts our society is still unable to raise its moral values and there is no equal or even better treatment towards transgenders, especially in KPK.
Imran Khan, who is having supreme powers in province, must take notice of the issue.
