When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

LGBTQ Plus

After Killings, Pakistan Play Tackles Transgender Stigma

The play Teesri Dhun
The play Teesri Dhun
Naeem Sahoutara

LAHORE — Over the past few months, the prestigious Al-Hamra Theater in this Pakistani city has been staging a first-of-its-kind play, one that very much pushes cultural boundaries in the conservative Muslim society.

The play, called Teesri Dhun, focuses on the discrimination transgender people endure in Pakistan, where they are often shunned by families, schools and employers. Not only that, but the actors themselves are members of the transgender community.

"The play highlights the problems transgender people face here," says Neeli Rana, 40, who plays the lead role in Lahore. It's a story line that resonates with Rana. "In 2006 I became an activist campaigning for my community's rights because transgender people were not being issued birth certificates and national identity cards," the actor recalls.

"Since they had no information how to get these identity documents I started guiding them," she adds. "I've also been highlighting the problems through protests and through the media."

Transgender people are often the target of discrimination and violence and about 45 members of the community have been killed in Pakistan over the last six months. Aliysha, a 23-year-old transgender activist, was the latest. She was shot multiple times by an unknown man in the northwestern city of Peshawar. She died three days after being taken to a government hospital. Activists blame medical staff for her death, saying their indecision on whether to take Alishya to the male or female wing delayed vital treatment.

Aliysha's death sparked protests by transgender and rights activists nationwide. Jannat, 26, who performs in Teesri Dhun, says she protested in the eastern city of Lahore after Aliysha's death, noting that discrimination at hospitals is common.

A protest against torture and acts of discrimination against women and transgender in Pakistan — Photo: PPI via Zuma

"Once I went to a hospital, where the doctors asked me different questions like how much do I charge for having sex," she says. "They taunted me and asked, "Oh, do you also need treatment?" I was so disturbed that I went away without getting any medical care."

Transgender people face a difficult life in Pakistan. Abandoned by their families, they often live together in small groups in slums. To earn a livelihood, they beg for money on street corners or dance at weddings. Rarely educated, many end up in the sex industry.

"Before we used to dance at carnivals to earn a living. But those have been stopped because of the terrorists," Rana says, referring to terror attacks that have taken place in crowded spaces in Pakistan.

"So now, when sources of income end, then what will the community do?" she asks. "Most have already started begging. If we indulge in sex work, this is not by choice. Society forces us into it."

Actors from the play Teesri Dhun getting ready backstage — Photo: Teesri Dhun's Facebook

In 2010, the community celebrated a historic victory when Pakistan's supreme court ruled that transgender people have the same rights as other citizens. The court ordered the government to issue them national identification cards and provide them jobs.

Although a third column of "transgender" was added to identification cards, the promise of jobs and social welfare remains elusive.

With the surge in killings of transgender people, activist Zehrish says protection is vital. "Had our rights been enforced, transgenders wouldn't have been killed like this," the activist says.

People in the transgender community say that the social mindset toward them needs to change. "The most important thing is acceptance at the family level," says Jannat. "Many parents object to the natural inner self of the transgender, beating them, forcing them to act like men. In the end, they kick us out of the house."

She adds: "Pakistani society must accept us as a reality like it's been accepted in Europe and other countries. We are also human beings just like anyone else."

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest