Lack of policy obstructing social integration: activists

‘There’s no jobs quota but there’s also no discrimination against the community’.

LAHORE: Activists for the rights of transgendered people complain that lack of a government policy is preventing efforts for social integration of the community.

Some MPAs had raised the issue during budget debate in the Provincial Assembly. They had urged the government to allocate funds for the welfare of the community on the pattern of the Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa (KP) government that allocated Rs200 million in its budget for 2016-2017 year.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, MPA Shunila Ruth, one of these lawmakers, said that the society in general and the government in particular appeared to be reluctant to address problems faced by the community. “Transgendered people have also been created by God. We should facilitate their integration into the society instead of treating them as ‘inherent entertainers’,” she said.

During the budget debate, Ruth had suggested that vocational and technical skills training programmes should be started for transgendered people. She had also sought a quota for the community in public sector jobs.

Recalling the House’s response, Ruth said most lawmakers had sneered at her proposals. She said they had remained unmoved when she reiterated the need for some government initiatives for the community. “Their behaviour is a reflection of the rulers’ attitude towards the issue,” she said.

Ruth said lack of accurate statistics of transgendered people was frustrating efforts pressing the government to facilitate their social integration.

A volunteer-based activist group, Khawaja Sira Society, has started a census of transgendered people in the city. The group had initiated the activity after a Supreme Court ruling in 2012 directing the government to ensure provision of all constitutionally guaranteed rights, including the right to inheritance, to the transgendered people.

Neeli Rana, a group member, said that around 25,000 transgendered people had been registered in Lahore. She said field staff affiliated with the group had been tasked with the responsibility of locating and registering transgendered people.

Rana, an activist for transgendered people’s rights since 2006, stressed the need for a comprehensive government policy to addresses the community’s woes. On the KP government’s allocation of Rs200 million for the community in its budget for 2016-17, she said it was an encouraging move but ad hoc allocations alone would not be very effective in the absence of a policy.

For 50-year-old Nusrat Ara alias Ashee, lack of livelihood opportunities is the most important issue for transgendered people face at the moment. She says that because of a lack of social acceptance opportunities to make a respectable income are rare for transgendered people.

Ashee, a Tibi City resident, says that given the situation a lot of transgendered people are left with no option but to beg for money. She says lack of support for elderly members of the community is another issue needing attention. She says she is running a welfare programme under which financial support is extended to the members too old to make a living for themselves by singing and dancing.



Parliamentary Secretary for Baitul Maal and Social Welfare Muhammad Ilyas Ansari said that currently there was no quota for transgendered people in public-sector jobs or a policy to tackle issues faced by them. Though, he said he was also not aware of any discrimination against them in recruitment for government jobs.

“There are many issues plaguing the country. No policies have been identified to address all of them,” he said. Referring to recent demonstrations by visually-impaired people seeking larger share of jobs quota for the disabled, Ansari said the matter had been resolved through negotiation. He said if it was brought to the government’s notice, he hoped steps would be taken to address the problems of the transgendered community.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2016.