Chief Justice of Pakistan Supreme Court to provide jobs to Transgenders

September 12, 2018

Chief Justice chaired a bench to hear a case regarding Transgenders’ Rights.

For the 1st time, Pakistan’s Supreme Court will hire 2 transgenders to give them their rights in the Muslim-majority country, the Chief Justice said.

On Tuesday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar said 2 transgenders would be provided jobs in the Supreme Court.

The remarks came as he chaired a bench to hear a case regarding transgenders’ rights.

“In our society transgenders are subjected to ridicule. It's our top most priority to give them their rights,” he was quoted as saying by Geo News.

The Chief Justice said that the Court would issue notice to NGOs & the govt. of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while it hears the case related to basic rights of transgenders.

“Court wants to bring them into mainstream. It wants to resolve their issues,” he said. National Database and Registration Authority Chairman Usman Mobin who appeared during the hearing, informed the Court upon being asked if identity cards to all transgender applicants have been issued, that his organisation is issuing cards & also initiated a facilitation campaign.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan lamented that the community was facing threats & ridicule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The Supreme Court also took exception to a website that he was told is involved in spreading misleading materials against transgenders.

The court was also told that an NGO named Blue Van had established the website which claims as many as 500 transgenders have been murdered in the country.

In 2009, Pakistan became one of the first countries in the world to legally recognize a third sex, allowing transgenders to obtain identity cards. They number at least half a million people in the country, according to several studies, but their representation in politics & many other spheres of life remains negligible

The transgender community was counted in the national census for the 1st time in 2017.

Pakistan is a deeply conservative country where homosexuality is illegal. However, the country has approved laws giving transgender people better rights than in many other countries, media reports said.