LAHORE: Pakistan’s transgender rights activist, politician, and social activist, Nayab Ali, has won the “Asia Hero Award” under the category of Transgender Hero.
According to details, the award ceremony was held in Bangkok, Thailand. Nayab Ali was awarded for his services to the rights of the transgender community. Although Nayab Ali could not attend the award ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she thanked the event organisers for recognition of her work and services.
In a video message, Nayab Ali vowed to continue to work for the rights to transgender persons and encourage others to fight for their rights. “This award gives me hope that we will change the world’s perspective towards transgenders,” she added.
Nayab further said, “I was abused for raising voice for my community, which made me feel very insecure and depressed, but at the same time such a great honor gave me enough courage to do work for the community.”
Almost 250 transgender persons from all Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines and Bhutan, were nominated, but the award eventually went to Nayab Ali.
Earlier, Nayab Ali was the first Pakistani transgender person to win the annual Gala Award in Ireland. The international award-winning Nayab Ali also has the distinction of being the first transgender person in Pakistan to register his company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
Nayab Ali is working for the rights of transgender persons for the last decade. She has also set up a ‘Khawaja Sira Community Centre’ for providing education and technical training to transgender persons in Okara city of Punjab province.
Nayab Ali is highly educated as she has completed BSc (Hons) in Botany from the Punjab University (PU) and Masters in International Relations from Islamabad’s Preston University (IPU).
