Breaking through barriers

Not everyone fits in a box. In Pakistan, we have few boxes and many who do not fit in. We have countless ‘others’ — rarely recognised — who live life on the fringes for their sexual orientation, gender or even religious or political beliefs. A dramatic enactment titled “Teesri Dhun” on the struggles of khwaja siras was portrayed in a documentary theatre at the Al Hamra in Lahore last week. Six actors highlighted their stories of pain and neglect and the struggles of not fitting in as either men or women in Pakistan.

Theatre and arts can often be the most powerful form of depicting life and loss, and “Teesri Dhun” succeeded in doing so. However, similar mediums that reach out to people, such as television plays or films, also need to play their role in sensitising the public on the matter and creating acceptance for people who are otherwise social outcasts. On television, transgender lives are shown primarily to depict their difference from what is considered normal or used to add humour to content. This is a great disservice to the everyday struggles of countless people. Television and film need to incorporate khwaja siras simply as another gender, just as any man or woman is shown on TV.

While the judiciary helped on this front when the Supreme Court recognised transgenders as another distinct gender, we have a long way to go to reduce the general state of discrimination. Government job quotas for transgenders are not filled and they are rarely seen employed in private-owned businesses. Many people in Pakistan still see them as people suffering with a certain disease or people who are only good for entertainment on the streets or as dancers at weddings. Children are taught to be scared of them, while people shamelessly laugh from behind their car windows at transgender beggars. The constant struggle faced by transgenders needs to be recognised and seen with the empathy that it deserves and focused effort made to create awareness and reduce discrimination . After all, a strength of a nation’s characters reflects in how it protects its most vulnerable.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  27^th,  2015.

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