ISLAMABAD: Senator Mushtaq Ahmad on Monday presented the bill for amendments in the Transgender Protection Act, 2018 to the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights, Senator Waleed Iqbal, while representatives of the transgender community and human rights were present in the meeting.
During the meeting, Senator Mushtaq Ahmad said that “Transgender is an American term, it has no place in Islam, and the legislation regarding the transgender community is against Quran and Sunnah and it will promote homosexuality.”
He suggested to the committee that the Islamic Ideological Council and the Muftis should be specially invited to take a decision in this regard.
On this, transgender representatives said they would not allow the Transgender Protection Act, 2018 to change.
The Ministry of Human Rights opposed the amendments and said that since the matter is in the court, it should not be tampered with, while the Islamabad administration supported the amendments.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018 is law in Pakistan which was enacted by the parliament in 2018 to legally provide equality to transgender people and to safeguard their rights.
The law aims to legally recognise transgender people in the country. It also allows them to legally have the same rights as cisgender people.
In March 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) addressed the provision of Pakistan after releasing a paper at International Transgender Day of Visibility
The ICJ highlighted features of the provision. Pakistan is the one of the first nations that legally recognized transgender people.
