Transgender activist Nayab Ali on Tuesday bagged an international activism award, the Gala Award, in absentia this weekend.

She was among four nominated by Amnesty International, Frontline Defenders, and the International LGBT Action Foundation.

Although she had travelled in Dublin to accept the award, she fell sick and did not attend the ceremony out of concern for others and instead, opted to record a video thanking the attendees for the award. She shortlisted for her extraordinary work for the welfare of the transgender community in Pakistan.

It may be mentioned here that Nayyab, earlier last month, made history by being the first transgender Pakistani to register a company with Pakistans Securities and Exchange Commission.

She was also one of the 13 transgender people who, for the first time in the country’s history, contested in the general elections in 2018. Ali did not win the election but said the act of contesting was itself was a revolutionary act.

For the last 10 years, she has been giving technical support to government institutions to improve the lives of transgender people and provide them with basic rights.

She has a BSc (Hons) degree in botany from Punjab University (PU) and masters in international relations from Islamabad’s Preston University (IPU).