t was not Bari Imam’s urs but the air at the premier Sufi shrine in Islamabad was festive on January 10. A group of transgender persons at their shelter, generally referred to as Pari Bagh, on the far corner of the shrine premises hugged one another and sang and danced.

They are quite lively most of the time but this was a special day. They were celebrating because Islamabad High Court, situated about three kilometres awayon the Constitution Avenue, had upheld the right of Nayab Ali, one of their own, to stand in the upcoming general election. The shelter they live in was founded mainly through Nayab Ali’s efforts.

Ali will be up against political heavyweights like Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.

Nayab Ali tells The News on Sunday, “Their case was weak. As the judges have pointed out, contesting elections is fundamental right of all citizens regardless of gender. Justice has prevailed.”

Chaudhry Sultan Mehmood, a political analyst, says that after Nayab’s nomination was accepted by the returning officer, some Pakistan Tahreek-i-Insaaf members had launched a campaign against her on social media. One of the PTI supporters complained that the papers of their candidate, a lawyer, had been rejected while those of a trans-woman had been accepted.

He recalled that when the party was in power, some of its ministers and allies like Sheikh Rashid Ahmed would call PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari a ‘khusra’, a derogatory term for a transgender person. He observed that the PPP seemed to have a more reasonable approach to gender in politics.

Dr Shafqat Munir, a senior member of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, who has visited more than 50 countries, tells TNS, “It is no use making gender an issue in politics. Being a transgender person has been stigmatised. As a result, transgender people are denied opportunities to make a living, not to speak of running for elections. Equity comes before equality. They have not even been counted. In the census report, there number has been reported close to 10,000; in reality there are many more of them,” he says.

He says many of the transgender people are disowned by their families at the time of birth or at school-going age.

Nayab Ali’s candidacy was challenged in the court by another transgender person. Almas Bobi objects to the use of this term. Bobi tells TNS that Nayab Ali’s original name was Muhammad Arsalan. “If she contests elections under that name, we are with her.” Bobi agrees with the Federal Shariat Court ruling that the determination of a person’s gender should be unambiguous. “One should not be free to register as male, female or transgender. We are khawaja seras, not transgender people,” she says.

Kashish, another khawaja sara who stood for elections from NA 53 in 2018 general elections, says that her community is often misrepresented.

“There is a lot of talk about khawaja saras taking important roles in government and non-governmental bodies. People think they are our success stories. These success stories have little impact on the lives of Kashish and about 300,000 other transgender people of Pakistan.”

“These (success stories) are the dreams that we have been robbed of. Most of these so-called representatives work for the interests of gays and lesbians,” she says.

“They are not us. They are transgender people. We are khawaja saras. We have a guru system. A guru knows their followers. The total number in Pakistan is over 300,000. Only about 2,200 of them have identity cards mentioning their gender as khawaja sara.”

Chaudhry Sharafat Ali, executive director of School of Law and Development (SLD), where Nayab Ali is a team member, says that when in 2018, an act of parliament was passed for protection of transgender people, it did not discriminate between khawaja saras and other transgender people. “That year, 12 transgender people stood in general elections, including Nayab Ali. She ran from Okara and polled the highest number of votes. The debate about who is a transgender and who is not is futile. The basic question is the protection of fundamental human rights. And law allows all citizens to contest elections.”

He says Nayab Ali has been part of trainings of judicial officers conducted by the SLD in Islamabad and elsewhere. “She deserves to run for public office,” he says.

Nayab Ali says that her agenda is broader. “I do not represent transgender people alone. I represent my entire constituency. I represent the poor living in villages around Islamabad, whom no one knows much about. I also represent the affluent people who want to bring about a change,” she says.

She says transgender people are now going to the public and telling them, “ham note mangnay nahin, vote mangnay aai hain.” (We are not asking for money; we are asking for your vote). This slogan is meant to change the public perception that transgender people are beggars.

Nayab Ali says appropriate arrangements should be made for transgender people on the polling day. She said people in her constituency are praying for her success. People from other parts of the country have also encouraged her, she says.

Nayab Ali has won many national and international awards for her work to protect rights of transgender people and protect human rights. She has also survived an acid attack.

Prof Tahir Naeem Malik, a political analyst, says. “There are many obstacles in her way. If the system is fair, she stands a chance to find a place in the parliament,” he concludes.

The writer is a journalist and a teacher of journalism. Journalist Danish Malik also contributed to the report