This is reflective of how the political setup at large is itself unwelcoming of the community members
LAHORE: The PTI-Gualai is the first political party of the country to issue tickets to four transgender persons. Despite the fact that NADRA and the Election Commission have allowed for numerous facilitations for the community members, no political party has issued tickets to transgender people. This is reflective of how the political setup at large is itself unwelcoming of the community members. It would have been better if the parties had been obligated to issue a certain number of tickets to transgender persons. Such an approach would have ensured their inclusion in the functioning of political parties.
With that, it is even more unlikely that voters will cast votes and elect transgender candidates as their political leaders. It is important that leaders of the political parties should ensure not only to have transgender candidates for various constituencies but also actively campaign for them.
Maidah Hemsworth
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2018.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
