This decision was made as a result of a ruling against some parts of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 rendered by the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in May 2023. The FSC’s decision, which drew criticism from the legal community, civil society, and human rights organisations, led Nadra to stop registration for ‘X’ National Identity Cards (NIC) for transgender people.
Farhatullah Babar, the secretary general of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), appealed the FSC’s decision to the Supreme Court’s Shariat appellate court in July. Today, Nadra retracted its prior directive to freeze registrations in a notification.
The ‘X’ NIC for transgender people is now again being printed, said Rida Qazi, Nadra’s director of public engagement. She claimed that Nadra is legally required to issue these cards based on the advice of its external legal consulting branch. The ruling was hailed as a triumph for the transgender community’s tenacious advocacy by Nayyab Ali, the director of Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan.
The National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) praised Nadra for her quick action and choice to restart the ‘X’ NIC registration procedure. For access to numerous rights and services, NCHR Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha emphasised the significance of possessing a current NIC.
The National Assembly passed the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018 to formally recognise transgender people and eliminate discrimination against them. However, the law was subject to legal challenges, which resulted in the FSC’s May 2023 decision invalidating several of the act’s provisions because they were incompatible with Sharia law. This choice has elicited a range of responses and is still being discussed and investigated legally.
