A Decade of Transgender Rights Developments in Pakistan (2009-2019)

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a multitude of noteworthy transgender rights developments in Pakistan. The spur for these developments can be immediately traced to 2009 and a petition filed by a private attorney in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Over the course of several years of Supreme Court hearings and orders on transgender rights and welfare resulting from this petition, several provincial and federal government departments were forced to be in dialogue with the Supreme Court and civil society activists alike on how government could improve the social, political, and economic position of transgender individuals in Pakistan. Ultimately, this dialogue contributed to the passage, in 2018, of the wide-reaching and groundbreaking Transgender Persons (Protections of Rights) Act. This article surveys the above transgender rights developments, as well as recent governmental failures to adhere to the terms of the 2018 Act.

Keywords: Pakistan, transgender, Islam, inheritance, fundamental rights