Even today in Asian countries like Pakistan and India transgender people go through a lot abuse and oppression. They are always picked upon and even though society has recognised their presence but still people perceive them badly.
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But Indian law has accepted the presence of a third gender as of 2012 , according to that everybody is equal before law and one has right to choose their gender identity and cannot be discriminated on the basis of gender.
Pakistan still has no law for their fellow transgender people or widely known as 'khawaja sara' in their region. Pakistan still follows the law created during 1860s by the British Raj, after independence in 1947 they changed its name to Pakistan penal code and has not made any changes in law regarding LGBT. Though Supreme Court in 2009 ordered the government to issue an identity card which has a 'third gender' category for its non-binary citizens.
Firdos a Khawaja sara from the Pak says that her life as transgender was very difficult from the start. At the age of seven she was robbed of her innocence and since then has been toyed many people to fulfil their desires. Even the son who she adopted and gave all the love of world felt ashamed of her after becoming old and severed all ties with her. Imagine the magnitude of pain she must have felt.
Life had reduced a graduate to beg for survival. Yes, Firdos has a degree. Her latest occupation became to educate her two grandsons that her son had abandoned. She is currently focused on educating them and freeing them from the poverty that has dictated her life.
Firdos' story is just one of many and To help these type people Dr Saima, Khawaja sara has launched a project Khawaja Sara rehabilitation program which aims lift people like firdos from the bottom the society .
According to the research by Dr Saima most khawaja saras begin to regret their birth as a single biggest mistake of their life which is very sad. But Many in Pakistan call Khawaja Sara' s to their marriages , naming ceremony as they believe Khawaja sara's have power of blessing and what they say becomes true. This belief is also present in some parts of India.
In a recent incident in Pakistan, Alisha, a transgender woman was succumbed to her injuries after the hospital staffs delayed the treatment by arguing whether to shift her to male ward or female ward. The 23-year-old was a trans activist in the city of Peshawar and was shot seven times on May 22.
Alisha, a transgender woman who was shot in Pakistan, succumbed to her injuries on May 25, 2016. (Photo courtesy of the Neengar Society) Washington Post
According to Washingtonblade.com reports- Last week, Muhammad Falak, president of the Neengar Society, a group that advocates for marginalized Pakistanis said to the news portal in an email that Alisha was shot six times by a man who raped her and "tried to kill her."
While the scenario is a bit different in America. Today USA is considered as country which provides most benefits to its fellow transgender people. America has also created separate washrooms named as all gender where transgender can go. This step was taken to reduce the discrimination and abuse from the general people as washroom is a place where generally transgender people are abused and made them feel ashamed.
Countries like Germany, New Zealand, and Australia have always welcome transgender and countries like Argentina, Malta, Denmark, Columbia, Ireland and Vietnam have started to recognise transgender as third gender in their constitution. Slowly but steadily many countries will follow the footstep of these.
-by Bhaskar Raghavendran
Bhaskar is a graduate in Journalism and mass communication and a reporter at NewsGram. Twitter handle: bhaskar_ragha
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