Islamabad, Sept 30, (dpa/GNA) – Pakistan launched a phone helpline on Friday for transgender people to report harassment, a notable move in the conservative Islamic society that often rejects the marginalized community.
Often abandoned by their families and ignored by the state, many transgender people in Pakistan struggle with numerous difficulties living on the margins of society. Large numbers are forced into sex work to make a living.
Cases of murdered, kidnapped, intimidated abused and harassed transgender individuals are common, and most go unreported because of discrimination within the police force.
The 24-hour helpline will help the community to register incidents of harassment, said Salman Sufi, head of a strategic reforms unit, that works under the country’s prime minister.
A senior police officer will be bound to file complaints and investigate them within 24 hours, Sufi said at the virtual launch in the capital Islamabad.
The move comes, amid mounting opposition by religious and right-wing political groups of a 2018 law, that had envisaged the provision of several rights to transgender people including gender self-identification.
The opposing groups claim the right to gender self-identification without medical examination might increase the number of people identifying as gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer in Pakistan.
Transgender activists hailed the move as historic, hoping it would help create some social space for them.
“It is an historic intervention for our protection,” trans activist Nayyab Ali said at the launch.
GNA