Plan approved: Eunuchs to receive BISP cash handouts

Law ministry okays Benazir Income Support Programme expansion proposal.

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to treat the transsexual community just like any other segment of the society and include them among beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), The Express Tribune has reliably learnt.

The law ministry has given a go-ahead signal to the BISP top brass which sought the former’s legal opinion on the matter.

The BISP, operating under the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, has been paying Rs1,000 a month to families living below the poverty line. Simultaneously, another programme –Waseela-e-Haq – was started to provide loans of Rs300,000 per poor family to enable them to start a small business.

Recently, the Supreme Court directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to provide a column reserved for ‘Mukhannis’, or the third gender in their registration forms.

Keeping in view the apex court’s judgement, sources said, the BISP also floated the idea of providing financial help to transsexuals facing financial problems.

Subsequently, a summary was forwarded to the law division, soliciting its legal opinion on the matter. The ministry’s reply, seen by this correspondent, fully endorsed the proposal. It said that although the SC had directed NADRA to provide a special column for eunuchs, even then no discrimination is permitted against any gender under Article 25 of the Constitution.

Allowing transsexuals to be included in the BISP beneficiaries, the law ministry opined that it was unfortunate that the third gender is deprived of fundamental rights in the country and special attention is needed to elevate them to a human level.

In this regard, the law ministry has suggested the BISP management to add a word ‘may’ after the words ‘Miss/Mrs’ in the second paragraph of the agreement.

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said his ministry had promptly responded to the BISP’s suggestion and seconded its opinion.

He said that the ministry had vetted the draft summary and sent it back to the BISP to materialise the plan accordingly.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 31^st, 2010.