Voice up to arrange its first Open Mic Discussion on " Sex & Gender"

Voice Up has arranged its 1st Open Mic Discussion on the theme Sex & Gender on 13th dec, 2016
where anyone can come and present their ideas on the given theme. Shreya Tanisha, the founder of Indus Peace Project, born in India and a recent graduate from University of Edinburgh will be the guest speaker for open mic session. She lived in over seven different countries and can confidently identify as a third culture kid. Moreover, despite of having a strong interest in Indian Society she believes in social change as well.All Registrations will be made on spot.
The registration fee for the speakers is PKR200/-
The registration fee for the attendees is PKR100/-

PHC Moved Against Deletion Of Specific Column For Transgender In Census Form

The transgender community has moved a constitutional petition before the Peshawar High Court against the deletion of a specific column for them in the form of the upcoming national Census.

Speaking at a news conference in Peshawar press club on Monday before submitting the petition in the high court, TransAction Alliance president Farzana said that the Census form initially had a column for transgender under the head of disabilities to which civil society had objected.

She said the government instead of rectifying it, deleted the entire column and now the Census form had columns only for male and female while there is no mention of intersexual and transgender.

Farzana, a transgender herself, said that the Census without documenting the trans population could wipe out the community from the development agenda of the government.

“If we are not counted in the upcoming Census, how the provincial and federal governments would make policies for us,” she argued.

The transgender community through the petition has requested the court to stay the upcoming Censes till the form is amended and a specific column for the trans people is included in it.

It is further prayed that NADRA should also be directed to provide NIC to transgender persons as per their self-identified sex.

Farzana, whose organization TransAction works for the rights of transgender, said the successive government had made tall claims of protecting the rights of transgender, but in reality, they were not ready to give identity to the trans people.

“TKP government says there are only 300 trans people in the province, whereas according to our statistics, there are more than 7000 transgender only in Peshawar,” she claimed.

“The exact data needs to be collected. The government should ascertain the precise number of female and male transgender,” she maintained.

"I have a request. Please stop labeling the blind as “special people”. We are every bit as normal as anyone else.", Dr. Kamal

I was stricken by meningitis in 1968 when I was a high school student aiming to become an aeronautical engineer. It robbed me of my eyesight completely and I had to adapt my life according to the new situation. In those days, there were no course books in Braille. I would ask my friends to come over to my house, read, and record the textbooks in a tape recorder. I would play them to learn the material.

I completed my master's program this way and started working as a lecturer in Forman Christian College. In 1993, I enrolled at Punjab University and became the first blind student to get an MPhil in English.

I got the Fulbright scholarship for a PhD relatively late in my life - just eleven years ago when I was in my 50s, which is normally the age when people retire. Before my doctorate studies began, I undertook a phenomenal program that teaches independent living. It was in a facility in Minnesota known as BLIND, Inc, a nationally renowned foundation that offers training programs for empowering blind individuals. These independent living skills were extremely valuable and something which isn’t taught in Pakistan. It gave me tremendous freedom. I could do just about every task on my own, including cooking for myself and sometimes for my friends in the US!

The Fulbright experience and living in the US gave me an appreciation of how accommodating, thoughtful and considerate American people are and how much they respect the white stick. Independent living for the blind is a reality over there. Every store will have a shopping assistant who can direct you and accompany you to the right aisle. People can travel across the city and on the subway alone with their white stick unobstructed. This is a difficult and impossible scenario in Pakistan because pavements are always blocked with someone or something and people have no regard for the white stick. People have an attitude of pity with the blind. Rather than encouraging and facilitating a blind person travelling alone, they will recommend staying at home and not hampering their safety by venturing out.

I have a request. Please stop labeling the blind as “special people”. We are every bit as normal as anyone else. We are merely differently-abled. We also have the talent to excel at our professions if we are given the right training. I have mentored several blind as well as sighted students who now have illustrious careers. I lead a very fulfilling life. I have a loving and supportive family, and I look forward to going home and playing with my grandchildren every day.

Dr. Kamal Ud Din
Professor of English, Forman Christian College
Fulbright PhD Scholar (2005-2008)
PhD in English Literature, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
(Professor Kamal Ud Din specializes in Modern African American feminist poetry. He has the distinction of being the first visually impaired candidate to complete his PhD with the Fulbright scholarship within a period of three years)

Event regarding social exclusion of transgenders in LUMS

In October, in an event Ayesha Imran Murtaza, a guest lecture talked about social exclusion of transgenders and mentally challenged people at Lahore University of Management sciences (LUMS); one of the leading university of Pakistan with Ashi (a transgender). A success story of Akhuwat- Fountain House Transgender rehabilitation program was also shared. About 100 students participated. Dr Ahsan Rana was the host for the great academic initiative.

                                            "Glimpses of the event at LUMS"

Aashi and her heart wrenching story

Courtesy: "Spread The Word"

                                                           "Aashi at 22"

Aashi was around eight years old when she first started to show the signs of being a transgender. She was her father's beloved son. She instead of playing outside with boys in the streets of Ichra, Lahore; used to play with her sisters and helped them broom the house and in kitchen.
Aashi's family was well off and were educated: her father was an inspector and her two elder brothers were lecturers. She was loved by her family, neighbours and friends. She would go to school with high hopes and aims. Her father was a very social person who was known by a lot of people, for him having a transgender in family was a shame: he would rather kill his son then to accept him as a transgender.
When she was twelve life took a turn: her father would beat her and force her to play outside with her brothers. Her brothers would not play with her because of the shame they felt in front of other boys. No one would sit with her in school and some teachers used to make her sit in the corner. All of this seclusion made an escape from her home imminent.
She started talking to transgenders who begged, they welcomed her very cordially. Soon the love and acceptance given to her, forced her to escape with another transgender to Karachi. She was free: she could wear makeup, dance, dress beautifully like a girl; everything felt enchanting, bright and beautiful. Soon this also came to an end. She was under the one of the heads of the transgender communities in Karachi who was known as Haji. Haji started taking her to feudal lords; where Aashi started to dance and fulfilling the perverted desires of the feudal lords. The world again became gloomy and dull for her; she never wanted to be a slave: who would work as a prostitute and give whatever she earned to Haji.
When she was twenty-two she broke the chains, attached to her by Haji who would threaten her that she will be killed by her if she escaped or didn't follow her commands. She escaped to Lahore and would dance in parties and beg: she might have fled from Haji but she still was miserable and vulnerable because she didn't have any other skill she could practice freely.
One day when she was dancing in a party she saw some familiar faces. Her father and two elder brothers came here in search for her. They have been combing transgender communities since she escaped from home, they found her and took her home not because they were ready to accept her but because her mother's mental condition was deteriorating due to the loss of her beloved child.
Aashi took the responsibility of tendering her mother, Aashi had learned to sew clothes on congenial basis and used to sew her clothes and had once opened a tailor shop but couldn't practice it for longer because people started throwing stones in her shop but this time she welcomed by Dr. Amjad Saqib, founder of Fountain House, to open a tailor shop within the premises of Fountain House.
Aashi was not only able to earn for her mother and for herself but was also able to pay Rs. 600,000 for the surgery of her brother.
Aashi's life is a lesson for the everyone, if Aashi was accepted by her parents by people she would never have been a prostitute or a beggar instead she could have completed her education and could've self-actualized at an early age. She is also an example for the transgender community that working hard enough and speaking for yourself will get them a respected place in the community.
Aashi wishes to have a respected place for transgender community if not in her life then, through her story as an example, in future. She also wants government to have a subject or topic about transgenders in school curriculum so that more awareness about transgenders and the problems they face could be raised.
("Spread the Word" and "Azaad Pakistan" organizations are raising fund's to train and empower many transgenders out there like Aashi. Your RS 1500 can empower a transgender to take charge of his/her life and earn bread. To support contact: 03216111557 --)

Students being outcast-ed in schools due to religious beliefs.

Mrs. Kausar Alvi a Science teacher at Crescent Model School, Lahore on asking about students being bullied or outcast-ed at schools reported a case in which a grade 3 students was treated as an outcast in class because "he came from a christian family and shared different religious beliefs. Since, he was the only christian student in the class and was left all alone in the lunch break, Children use to avoid sharing their lunch with him and the worst part was that they refused to share glass with him to drink water"

Press Conference Organized by TransAction

On November 25th a press-conference was held by "trans- Action". Performing Ummrah and Visiting Holy Places is transgender community's right. Transgender Community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa challenges the Saudi ban. The members of the Trans Action Alliance called govt. of Pakistan for “root-and-branch” reform for the way public institutions deal with transgender people and said the government should formulate a comprehensive strategy to address the issue within six months.
                                         
                                          "Glimpses of the Press Conference"