The Transgender Act passed by the Parliament four years ago, which, according to “Muazullah Sarkar” of social media, “was brought by the People’s Party, approved by the Muslim League and defended by the Tehreek-e-Insaaf” is under severe criticism. Some of the criticisms are related to the motivations and some are related to the provisions of the bill.
Regarding the motivations of this act, “Muazullah Sarkar” says that “under a “well-thought-out plot” “Homosexuality” is being pushed into the country. They believe that this bill was passed as part of a “deep-rooted conspiracy” to destroy our moral values and smooth the environment of obscenity and nudity in the country. However, they haven’t identified these “touts” yet. Similarly, some people have reservations about the contents of this bill and some “knowledgeable scholars” are such that they are saying anything without any proper research. Like when the author of, “dozens of books” who also happen to be Dean of Faculty of Islamic Studies of a renowned university of the country, was asked by one of the henchmen of our “Muazullah Sarkar” about this bill, he confidently replied, “This bill was presented in the National Assembly by Naveed Qamar in 2018, who was then the Law Minister.”
I don’t know why our “beloved” henchman did not tell him that Naveed Qamar was in the opposition between 2013-2018. Similarly, a senator who has caused an uproar on this bill said that “this bill was made without consulting the Islamic Ideological Council, this bill conflicts with the Qur’an and Sunnah, etc.”
Similarly, there is another senator who said when this bill was passed, I was present at that time now I apologize and repent before Allah” and then submitted amendments immediately after that. So the bottom line is, this bill has attached attention of every single citizen and every Tom, Dick, Harry is presenting his “opinion”. But to my surprise, no one has properly explained how this bill was enacted. I heard one of the anchors saying that the contents of the bill were kept secret until the last moment. Is this the case? It is being said that the Council of Islamic Ideology was not consulted. Is there any truth in it? To know the answer, we have to look at the history of this Act.
Our history begins in 2009 when a petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan against an SSP of Rawalpindi. The supreme court ruled that transgenders are entitled to all the rights that have been given to the citizens of this country, by the Constitution of Pakistan. Along with this, the Supreme Court also directed that legislation should be made in this regard and the protection of transgenders must be ensured. As a result, Senator Babar Awan presented a bill in the Senate on 9th January 2017. Explaining the bill, Babar Awan pointed out the discrimination against transgenders and cited various incidents, and explained how this bill is so important and must be passed. Awan’s bill consisted of eight chapters and twenty-one articles. Under this bill, transgender persons were defined as:
- Those who are completely neither male nor female.
- Those who are a combination of male or female.
- Or those whose gender identity does not match the identity assigned at the time of birth. The word “genderqueer” was used for such people.
Article 4,5,6,7 of this bill is very interesting. According to these articles, a transgender person will apply to his district magistrate according to his self-perceived gender identity. Acting on this application, the district magistrate will form a district screening committee, based on which his gender will be determined. If seen at this time, the most demand is being made for the same thing. In addition, in this bill, any kind of criminal behavior with transgenders such as begging, forced labor, restriction of movement, forced migration and any physical, sexual, or economic exploitation will result in the punishment of six months imprisonment and can also be fine.
This bill was sent to the Human Rights Committee of the Senate on which a meeting was held on March 7, 2017, under the chairmanship of Mr. Mohsin Leghari (the same Mohsin Leghari who is now saying that I have sinned) but no significant progress was made. After that, on 21 August 2017, 3 bills were introduced in the Senate. Out of these, 2 bills were presented by Senator Rubina Khalid and one bill by Senator Karim Ahmad Khawaja.
The first bill of Rubina Khalid Sahiba demanded amendment in Section 377 of the Penal Code of Pakistan, to include punishments for crimes against transgenders, amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure were also demanded. While the second bill is the same “Transgender Protection Act 2018” (since a lot has been written on the contents of this bill, a detailed discussion on it will be done in the next article).
Karim Ahmad Khawaja’s bill consisted of 15 articles. This bill was a copy of Babar Awan’s bill with minor changes. Under this bill, threatening transgenders or endangering their lives will result in 2 years of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000. Chairman Raza Rabbani, on the proposal of the government, clubbed all the bills and sent them to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. On which the committee meeting was held on September 25, 2017, under the chairmanship of Senator Nasreen Jalil.
In this meeting, the critical issue regarding transgender identity was discussed, which is currently the subject of controversy, i.e, how transgenders are going to be registered? Based on their self-perceived gender identity or approval by the medical board? The session ended without any progress. Now before the next session was called on, Chairman Islamic Ideological Council, Mr. Qibla Ayaz came to light on January 2, 2018, saying that “He was not taken into confidence on this bill. He said. How could he make any comments without looking at this bill.” Because of his statement, he was specially invited to the meeting held on February 9, 2018. Senator Mufti Abdul Sattar of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam also participated in this meeting. In this meeting, Chairman Islamic Ideological Council Dr. Qibla Ayaz said:
“Right of self-perceived gender identity should be given to transgender persons”
These words of the committee are worthy of consideration:
“The Committee discussed the issue at length and in this connection also, inquired Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology, to give his view. The Chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology also supported the right of self-perceived identity…. The Committee unanimously recommended that the Bill drafted by the Committee may be passed by the House”
After that, on 7th March 2018, this bill returned to the Senate. Chairman Raza Rabbani read out each of its clauses and this bill was approved without any opposition. A surprising thing would come out. At the time when this bill was being approved, Maulana Attaur Rehman, the brother of the leader of “Five Lakh Ulama” and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari, a very senior politician and leader of the Jamiat, was part of this meeting. There was no opposition. It did not come. After that, on May 8, 2018, this bill was also approved by the National Assembly, which will be discussed in the next article.
Now here is a question for our dear “Muazullah Sarkar” when in all the certified documents of the Senate, not only the statement of the Chairman Islamic Ideological Council there but also the support of Mufti Abdul Sattar of Jamiat, Maulana Atta-ul-Rahman and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidari for this bill. In such a case, who is America’s tout? Who wants to spread homosexuality? Was the brother of the leader of “five lakh scholars” also part of this conspiracy? Maulana Tanvir-ul-Haq Thanvi, son and leader of Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi’s family, will support this bill on the West’s hint? It is a matter of thinking.
- How Transgender Act Was Enacted? - 23/10/2022
