Pakistan’s axing of transgender music festival shows nation ‘not ready’ to be inclusive
- ScrapFest was due to take place in Karachi this month but permission was suddenly denied by the high court
- Human rights defenders say the move has put the spotlight on the prejudice faced by the ‘khwaja sira’ community of around 500,000 people
“I wanted to offer a platform to people like me to express themselves, something that I didn’t have while growing up,” said Khan, who eventually hosted the event online. “But the majority of Pakistan wasn’t ready for it.”
Stressing that both the ScrapFest’s suspension and Joyland’s ban violated the 2012 Supreme Court verdict that ordered the government to ensure the transgender community has constitutional protection, Supreme Court lawyer Hina Jilani said there is a lot of “contradiction” between equality and human rights in books as opposed to real life.
Religious clerics, however, say the legislation is “un-Islamic” and promotes same-sex relationships, and demanded amendments. Last year, a bill amending the law was sent to a Senate standing committee for debate.
Adding that ScrapFest’s permission suspension order was only a reflection of the “hesitation to provoke religious groups”, Jilani, also chairperson of the non-profit Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said that “successive governments” had avoided challenging religious clerics and tried to “appease them instead”.
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Unofficial estimates put the community at 500,000 but over 90 per cent are unregistered by the National Database & Registration Authority.
Often shunned by their own families, many transgender people have no choice but to beg or earn money through singing, dancing and sex work.
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Few transgender folk work in professional roles and the discrimination against the community continues.
Attacks on transgender folk
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province bordering Afghanistan, has witnessed rampant violence against the transgender community in the past decade.
Peshawar-based Farzana Riaz, head of non-profit Trans-Action Alliance, said 97 transgender folk had been reportedly killed in the province since 2015.
“Not a single accused has been convicted yet,” Riaz said, adding that they had routinely protested against the violence.
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In a report last year on four murders of transgender people, the HRCP highlighted that “prejudices” prevented police from conducting unbiased investigations.
HRCP’s Jillani said the rise of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was “partially” linked with the resurgence of the Taliban there, and the “absence of [the] state’s social policy to back the law”.
Riaz said although the 2018 transgender law had promised access to education, jobs and accommodation, the community still struggled for these rights.
Pracha said a recent backlash against the law from “conservative political parties” encouraged perpetrators of violence to enjoy impunity.
Threats on social media
As well as physical attacks, the transgender community faces hostility on social media.
When Urvah Khan announced ScrapFest would be hosted online, one Instagram user said she had initiated “a war against Allah” while a critic on Twitter said that these “so-called” human rights activists should not be allowed to “destroy” the nation, while many accused the festival of “promoting homosexuality”.
“Hate campaigns and online naysayers have always been around but the fake propaganda, this year, pushed by social media influencers and media forced us to take our event to a virtual stage,” said Urvah Khan.
She added, though, that she had also received support from many people, both locally and internationally. One social media user said the artists perform with “respect and dignity”.
Divided community
However, there does seem to be a growing divide within the community.
Activist Julie Khan believed ScrapFest reinforces the perception that khwaja sira people only “sing and dance”, a narrative she has been fighting a long time.
The focus of some transgender people, Khan said, is to receive international funding by organising festivals but not change the everyday situation for the transgender community in Pakistan.
But Urvah Khan argued that ScrapFest brought multiple artists including singers, dancers, comedians and actors, across regions and religions, to promote “diversity”.
At a time when intolerance is high, “conversations” about gender rights are extremely important, Khan said, and if ScrapFest offers a platform for such discussions, then it is surely serving a purpose.
