Pakistan to recognise eunuchs http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090701/FOREIGN/706309828/1103/ART
Bronwyn Curran, Foreign Correspondent bcur...@thenational.ae - Last Updated: June 30. 2009 9:50PM UAE / June 30. 2009 5:50PM GMT Bobby, 43, a Pakistani eunuch and president of the She Male Rights Association at her home in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Katherine Kiviat for The National RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN // After decades of ignominy and exploitation as painted dancers, singers and beggars, Pakistan’s “third sex” is to be officially surveyed and registered under the direction of the Supreme Court. Iftikhar Chaudhry, the liberal-minded chief justice, ordered the establishment of a commission to conduct the survey after a prominent jurist filed a petition drawing attention to the plight of Pakistan’s several hundred thousand eunuchs. Until the registration takes place, the number of eunuchs is unknown. Community leaders estimate it is at least 400,000. The jurist, Mohammed Aslam Khaki, was moved to champion the transgender community after a group of them were beaten and robbed by police raiding a wedding party in Taxila, an hour’s drive west of Islamabad, where they were giving a dance performance. The attack occurred in January. An association set up to improve their situation has welcomed the move as a first step towards greater protection of their rights. “This is the first time in history that any official has even thought about us,” said the association’s president, Bobby, who uses only one name. “The chief justice’s decision will give us a whole new identity, as a recognised minority. We will be able to build on that and get our rights.” Bobby is the first president of the association, established five years ago in response to systematic discrimination and abuse. The association is based in Rawalpindi, the bustling market city next to Islamabad, where thousands of eunuchs have made their home in cramped rented rooms. <http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/386c/3/0/%2a/f%3B215241118%3B0-0%3B0%3B34053407%3B4307-300/250%3B31260188/31278064/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://www.thenational.ae/section/register?template=userreg> Bobby, who runs the association from her traditional haveli home in Rawalpindi’s old quarter, wears the traditional women’s outfit of shalwar kameez with a dupatta slung across her distinctive décolletage. The census ordered by the chief justice, who has built a reputation for reaching out to minorities in need of protection, will be conducted in all four provinces and the information compiled in a database. It will record eunuchs’ family origins and look into their living and working conditions. Eunuchs in Pakistan are often denied entry to schools and hospitals, and refused properties for rent or purchase. Discrimination follows even in death, when many are denied formal burial rites. It makes for a long wish list from their association. “We want separate residential colonies because, generally, people don’t want us in their neighbourhoods,” said Bobby, 43, who has retired from dancing after 26 years of performing. “We need separate hospitals in each city. Our people don’t like to go to male colleges because they get teased, so we need separate schools, too. We also need separate graveyards.” Eunuchs have a long history on the subcontinent. In past eras, the term eunuch denoted a castrated male. Such men were considered non-threatening enough to hold sensitive positions in the palaces of sultans and Mughal emperors as courtiers and guardians of the harem. They were revered among old India’s nobility to such a degree that poor families were tempted to castrate a son so he could attain a prestigious position at court and guarantee his family a more comfortable life. Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal, outlawed castration in 1668. Eunuchs in the Islamic republic today are rarely castrated. The contemporary use of the term refers essentially to transgender male-to-females. Eunuchs make their living primarily as dancers at wedding parties. They dance in troupes of roughly 12 members and earn anywhere from 500 to 3,000 rupees (Dh25 to Dh140) each. But they are dancers in a sometimes pious society. Weddings do not take place during Islamic observances of the months of Ramadan and Muharram, and the extreme summer and winter months see few weddings, leaving just over half the year for work as a performer. By tradition eunuchs also turn up uninvited at households welcoming a newborn son, where they clap and sing in celebration in return for gifts of sugar, clothes and cash. Many turn to begging. Some to prostitution. “Our conditions are very bad. Sometimes our people have no money to pay their rent or eat,” Bobby said. “We cannot visit good doctors or private hospitals, but when we go to government hospitals they mock and shout at us.” --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
