First-ever national transgender day celebrated
PHOTO: FILE
The transgender community celebrated the first-ever National Transgender Day at the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat of Protection Against Harassment (FOSPAH) in collaboration with Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan.
The event was attended by Ambassador of Denmark Lis Rosen Holm, many signatories from the US and Australian embassies, the British High Commission and officials from the ministries, national commissions, and transgender representatives from across the nation.
In her opening remarks, Federal Ombudsman Kashmala Khan said, "We are here to open the first roundtable in Pakistan. We need to include them in the mainstream as Pakistan is one of the top 12 countries acknowledging the trans identity."
She said they are all from us and we can feel their pain of marginalisation. There was no specific law for transgenders but now they have been included in the persons’ category. She said that the FOSPAH is ready to take up cases of transgender persons.
Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan Executive Director Nayyab Ali said that Pakistan is a torchbearer of trans rights worldwide.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2022.