Sexual harassment: ‘It was hard to say who was harassing whom’

Scuffles between EC staff and eunuchs were reported while submitting forms.

MUZAFFARGARH:

Over 60 eunuchs submitted forms with the election commission office for registration of their votes here on Thursday.

The eunuch community in Muzaffargarh also set up a special counter to guide and facilitate eunuchs as to how they should apply for registration of votes. Several eyewitnesses reported minor scuffles at the registration point.

“It was hard to tell who was being harassed. Sometimes the clerks were rude to the hijra’s and other times they were the ones badgering the staff,” said an eyewitness Nadeem Muhammad.

“The administration officials also complained to the authorities that the hijra’s were badgering people outside the registration point for money,” he added. A eunuch, Shahana alias ‘Shani’ told reporters that they thanked the government for giving them the right to vote. “Now we have a voice in what happens to this country and we are very grateful. Shani told reporters that all reports of eunuchs harassing the staff were false. “Even when we speak or ask questions they think we are harassing them,” she said. It is a long way to go before we are fully included but this and jobs for eunuchs is a great first step,” he said.

Shani said the eunuchs would cast their votes in favour of those candidates who would help to resolve issues of their community. “In the future we will also be fielding candidates from our own community to represent our concerns,” she added. Shahana also vowed to launch an election campaign of their supported candidate.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2012.