As 2020 draws closer to its valedictory month and the world prepares for a new calendar year, there happens to be a lot holding this country of 212 million people back.

A significant portion of Pakistan’s population, the transgender community, despite its constant struggle for representation, still bears the brunt of cultural and legal discrimination on a regular basis. Alleged to be undercounted, as of this date, over 300,000 Pakistani transgender people face various hurdles in accessing fundamental human rights, including healthcare, education, employment, bodily autonomy and religious freedom. Much of these complications, per transgender-rights activists, stem from the country’s flawed system for national identification, which remains prejudiced against the gender minority. “Over 90 per cent of my community members still struggle for just representation on our identity documents.

But due to various factors and a broken system, many of us are forced to adopt a gender we don’t identify with,” said Zanaya Chaudhry, a Lahore based transgender rights activist. Chaudhry, who has been lucky to salvage associations with her parents and siblings after transition, said that a great many in her community seldom as fortunate. “Parents withdraw support, siblings turn faces, and often times we have no one but our gurus to call family. They act as our parents and guardians and are there for us in all our joys and sorrows,” she told lamentingly. According to the activist, among many trials and tribulations transgender people face in Pakistan, there is one which not only affects their life but also their hereafter. Read more via Tribune