LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) instructed the federal government and the relevant departments and ministries to include the transgender community in the next national population census.
The court was hearing a case filed by petitioner Waqar Ali, a transgender who had submitted the petition at the high court. In her petition she asked for the enforcement of her community’s fundamental rights, including enrolment in the upcoming census and the issuance of national identity cards mentioning their gender. She argued that the transgender community had been marginalised, citing an event witnessed in Sialkot where a transgender had been tortured.
A deputy attorney general who was present during the hearing assured the judiciary that the community would definitely be part of the upcoming census.
Pakistan’s sixth population census will begin on March 15, 2017.
