At the risk of stirring a massive backlash from devout fundamentalists, Pakistani PM Imran Khan has promised to protect transgender people and incorporate them into local welfare programs.

The Pakistani government will ensure “complete protection” for the transgender community, the prime minister said on Monday. He also promised to eliminate anti-LGBT sentiment that has long persisted in the deeply conservative country where homosexual acts are still a criminal offence.

This government is accepting the transgender community – something that previous governments had not done, unfortunately.

Khan attacked his predecessors for “pretending that the transgender communities do not even exist” and treating them like “non-persons,” before proclaiming that things are about to change.

“The objective behind this is that our government is owning you,” the prime minister said. To help trans people cope better with the hardships they face, the government will incorporate them in a healthcare program by handing out Sehat Insaf health insurance cards.

While Khan’s promises may not go down well in Pakistan, which has the second-largest Muslim population in the world, the trend is not entirely new. Last year, the country’s parliament made history by passing the Transgender Person Act, which allowed Pakistanis to self-identify as male, female, both or neither. Under the law, they may also have their gender identity stated on national IDs, driver licenses and education diplomas.

#Nayapakistan for all. @ImranKhanPTI in a historic step to bring transgender in mainstream.Sehat cards distributed to them.#PMIK assured provision of rights2 transgenders.A leap towards RiyasatiMadina where equality is yardstick 4rights distribution. @PTIofficial@pticmdofficialpic.twitter.com/IpyMQV1w6j — Adeela Khan (PTI Official) (@Adilaaawan) December 31, 2019

It also prohibits employers and public officials from discriminating against LGBT people. Nevertheless, the country still has a penal code that provides for life imprisonment for “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal.”

The transgender community was counted in the 2017 nationwide census for the first time in Pakistan’s history, recording 10,418 in a population of about 207 million.

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