CNIC woes: For transgenders, their guru is their guardian

The transgender community in Peshawar wants their CNICs to include the names of their gurus instead of fathers.

PESHAWAR: For the transgender community in Peshawar, a government form that asks them to identify themselves as part of a family that shirked them is unacceptable.

And so they are demanding that their computerised national identity cards, which not only allow them to access their basic rights but also enfranchise them as citizens of Pakistan, include the names of their respective gurus in place of a father.

“We want that the name of our guru appears on our identity cards because we can’t go home and our parents don’t give us enough [respect],” says Nisha.

Members of the community are overjoyed at being allowed the right to hold CNICs, but this is a demand they refuse to let go of.

“Our identity is our guru because our families do not care. We will make our identity cards but only in our gurus’ names,” a transgender said, requesting anonymity.

Another one agreed. “We always live here [with our gurus]. So it will be better if our CNICs identify us through our gurus.”

According to Farzana, president of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa She-male Association, 400 transgendered people have already registered for a CNIC and are willing to put down the names of their gurus.

“Whenever they are faced with a problem, it is the guru one who comes to their aid, not their family,” says Farzana, who is also a guru. “How their CNICs should be made is an issue that needs to be solved. Their parents have disowned them and since then, they live only with us.”