The ruling of the Shariat court has been called a “attack on the human rights of transgender people.”
ISLAMABAD: The transgender community does not agree with the Federal Shariat Court’s (FSC) decision, which they call a “attack on the rights of the transgender community by religious parties.” Amnesty International has also spoken out against the court’s decision.
Director of Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan (TRCT) Nayab Ali said that the FSC’s ruling was an attack on the rights of the community and an attempt to take away the rights of transgender people.
She was speaking at a news gathering at the National Press Club (NPC) on Friday, after the Federal Shariat Court decided to throw out parts of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018.
She said that the ruling made the whole transgender community sad.
“This is because the first step the state took to give transgender people rights and make sure they were safe and secure was turned down,” she said. “Any court cannot take away basic human rights from Pakistani citizens, and this country belongs to transgender people just as much as it belongs to clerics and religious people.”
Sara Imran, who has done well in business, said, “They should stop taking away our rights.” She also said that the transgender community has been around as long as people have, but that in modern times, laws have been made to give rights and safety to every group.
Sara Imran said, “We talk about the rights of birds and animals as well as how to protect the environment.”
Speakers said they would file an appeal against the FSC’s ruling, and both the federal and provincial governments should do the same because public opinion was on the side of their community.
Amnesty International has asked the government of Pakistan to reject any planned changes to the Transgender Act that go against international laws and standards for human rights.
Amnesty said in a message that the government should stop trying to change an act that made it hard for transgender people to get formal documents that matched their gender identity without having to meet abusive and invasive requirements.
It also said that assumptions based on bias, fear, and discrimination shouldn’t be used to deny transgender and gender-variant people their basic rights.
Amnesty International said that some of the court’s conclusions were based on assumptions instead of real facts.
Rehab Mahamoor, a research assistant at Amnesty International, said, “Any action taken by the government of Pakistan to deny transgender and gender-diverse people the right to gender identity is in violation of their obligations under international human rights law, specifically the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”
They are a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Amnesty International said that the Pakistani government should take quick and urgent steps to stop the rollback of important protections.
even more likely to be harassed, discriminated against, or hurt.