On Tuesday, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) ordered the Ministry of Human Rights to take urgent action to set up a transgender protection centre for children and the elderly in order to guarantee that they receive the rights that are owed to them.
The instruction was given by a two-member court panel that included acting Chief Justice Dr. Syed Muhammad Anwer and Justice Khadim Hussain Shaikh as they heard several petitions contesting the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018.
The FSC had instructed the ministry to establish a child protection unit for transgender youngsters during the most recent hearing.
The court expressed its displeasure with a report provided by the ministry stating actions taken for the transgender community at the beginning of the hearing today, complaining that the government was “not doing enough” to protect the rights of transgender people.
The convener of the ministerial committee, Zamurud Khan, who is also the head of the orphanage Pakistan Sweet Homes, has been ordered to meet with representatives of the human rights ministry in order to draught a report on the structure and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the proposed centre as soon as possible.
A committee headed by Khan has already been established, the secretary of the human rights ministry said the court.
Khan claimed that the government was behind schedule because it had not yet supplied a building for the protection centre.
He assured the court that “we will take care of the rest of the facilities once a structure is supplied for the purpose.”
After hearing the arguments, the court instructed the ministry to quicken its actions and present a status report and the SOPs at the subsequent hearing on January 17.
The Case
The National Assembly passed a law in May 2018 giving transgender people legal recognition and making it illegal to discriminate against trans people in all spheres of life.
The law also made it possible for trans people to be accepted as they saw themselves and to register as transgenders with government agencies.
The legislation, which was hailed as a “landmark” measure that provided protection to a marginalised minority, has been the subject of legal examination ever since the two houses of the parliament passed it.
The law was challenged in 2021 by a group of people who claimed it violated Islamic tenets. A new round of petitions challenging the law were submitted to the FSC in September 2022.