Members of the transgender community in Pakistan will also be contesting the upcoming general assembly elections slated for July 25. Two transgender leaders – Nayab Ali and Lubna Lal – will contest from Okara and Jhelum, respectively. They will represent Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Gulalai.
As reported by the Dawn, the All Pakistan Transgender Elections Network (APTEN) has announced the names of thirteen candidates who will contest elections from different constituencies.
The remaining candidates will contest as independent candidates. The APTEN comprises TransAction KP, the Sindh Transgender Welfare Network, the Balochistan Alliance for Transgender and Intersex Community, and the Punjab Transgender Foundation.
Farzana Jan, who leads the rights group, told the Dawn that two of their members, who were to contest from Peshawar and Haripur, couldn’t submit their nominations as they were beaten up and harassed after others got to know of their plans to fight the elections.
Jan further said that as they failed to get themselves nominated by the other parties, they went on to field independent candidates.