The process of applying for Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) and voter registration for transgender as voters began across the province on Saturday, said the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) deputy chairperson Tariq Malik.
“We were registering transgenders while the district registration officers of the Election Commission of Pakistan registered them as voters,” he said
Malik added that the response was overwhelming but it was too early to share the data.
According to Malik, the mobile vans were roaming around parts of Sindh and letting the transgender register on the spot. He said that their voter lists would also include a photograph. The general secretary of the Gender Interactive Alliance, Bebo Hasan, said that on Saturday, nearly 55 to 60 transgenders had gone to the NADRA office at Awami Markaz for registration which would specify their gender as either female transgender or male transgender. Hasan added that people who had been brought up in the transgender community would write down their Guru’s name as their father’s.
Meanwhile, in Sukkur, on orders from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the ECP started registering transgenders and 40 completed the process out 150 in Sukkur. The president of the Sanam Fakir Welfare Association, Sanam, told The Express Tribune that the 40 who registered have CNICs.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2012.
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