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We are living in a world, where we claim to be civilized and to have feelings for miserable people and minorities of the society. But in reality, our society provided us with the evidence that we are much worse than animals in some aspects. We are hypocritical people, our inner self is totally different from our outer self.
We live in a patriarchal society where even being a female is not tolerated, and here we talk about the ‘third gender’. They are the most vulnerable and marginalized minority in Pakistan. The gender which isn’t even given the basic human rights of nationality, education, job, national or ethnic origin, freedom of speech or any other status.
Source: BBC.com
Most people do not even consider them as a part of their community. Even their own parents abandon them, their parents consider them as a sign of shame and disgrace. Such is the massive rejection that is faced by transgenders. It is very humiliating for us. Being a part of Muslim society we all know Allah Almighty is the creator of every human being, then who are we to disrespect and ignore them. They are transgenders, not by their own choice, then why are we not accepting them?
Source: Flickr
There are several other issues that are faced by transgenders in our society: There is no support system in our society to help these individuals to live a normal life nor fulfillment of their basic human rights. Most of these individuals never get a chance to acquire basic education. They have only 2% quota in the job market.
Therefore, most of these individuals have no other options but to make their living by begging, singing and dancing alongside the road. As a result, they continue to face discrimination and disgusting attitude from the society. After a long period of immense struggle by transgenders side, the government has tried to incorporate them by giving them a right of identity by issuing them NICs.
The court has also declared recently that transgenders are citizens of Pakistan and all rights should be given to them, including the rights of inheritance, job opportunities, free education and health care. However, their rights are guaranteed on paper but in reality, they do not have these rights in practice.
As a society, we need to realize that this is not merely a war that these individuals have to fight, they are human beings, just like us and they deserve all the basic rights. Their voices have always been crushed under the burden of typical stereotypes. The need of the time is to raise our voices for them and to ensure their basic rights in order to make their lives less painful.
