Transgender Pakistanis long for family in Ramadan

Описание: (3 Apr 2023)
PAKISTAN TRANSGENDER RAMADAN
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 3:23
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Islamabad, Pakistan - 1 April 2023
1. Transgender people having an iftar meal to break their fast in Ramadan
2. Transgender person raising hands to offer prayers before breaking the fast
3. Transgender people breaking fast, UPSOUND of call to prayer
4. Various of group eating
5. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Shazia (no second name given), transgender person:
"In Ramadan, everyone wants to have iftar and sohour with their own family. We miss our families and want to have iftar with them, any person would have the same wish. Our feelings (as transgender people) are a little different from what other people feel. We miss our families during these days because that is when people get love, they join iftar parties and social gatherings. No one invites us to these parties. So on these kind of occasions, we miss our family more."
6. Rani Khan, transgender person, leading evening prayers
7. Various of transgender people praying
8. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Rani Khan, transgender person:
"We face difficulties in all departments of Pakistan. We face problems and difficulties in police stations, hospitals, in public places. I will add that there is no place where we have facilities, we are facing torture everywhere."
9. Various Khan and others preparing iftar meal
10. Various Khan bringing food to poor families in neighborhood, so they can break their fast
11. Various of Khan on way to market
12. Various Khan buying produce
13. Slum area where Khan lives

STORYLINE:
Some members of the transgender community in Islamabad come together for iftar meals in Ramadan with gatherings that fill up a room, but also serve as bleak reminders of what they cannot have with their families.

Many transgender people are rejected by their families and times like Ramadan when families often gather over food can be tough and lonely times.

"We miss our families during these days because that is when people get love, they join iftar parties and social gatherings," says Shazia, who only went by this name.

"No one invites us to these parties," says Shazia, adding that occasions like Ramadan make people in the community miss their families more.

Shazia has seven brothers and sisters but the 36-year-old had to leave them behind when she left her hometown of Gujranwala in Punjab province at the age of 16.

According to a 2019 Supreme Court census, the estimated population of transgender community in Pakistan is around 300,000 although the actual number could be higher.

Transgender women and men of all faiths are often publicly bullied and humiliated or even face violence in deeply conservative Pakistan, though the government has recognized them officially as a third gender.

Often disowned by their families, they resort to begging and work as wedding dancers.

They often are sexually abused and end up as sex workers.

Rani Khan, another member of the community, had been dancing for money and begging on the streets before she started an Islamic seminary in a slum area of Islamabad.

Khan says transgender people regularly face difficulties and hurdles in their everyday life.

"We face problems and difficulties in police stations, hospitals, in public places," Khan adds.

Still, Pakistan’s recognition of a third gender was a remarkable move for the conservative country.

It was life changing for many because it allowed them to acquire identity cards needed for everything from getting a driver’s license to opening a bank account.

AP video shot by Muhammad Yousaf



Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...