trans activist Pakistan They said they planned to appeal the Islamic court’s ruling to the country’s highest court, which violated laws designed to protect their rights.

Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill Passed by Parliament in 2018 Ensuring the fundamental rights of transgender Pakistanis.it ensures they have access to legal gender recognitionand other rights.

Many Pakistanis have deep-seated beliefs about gender and sexuality, and transgender people are often seen as outcasts. Some were forced to beg, dance, or even prostitute for money. They also live in fear of an attack.

On Friday, the federal shariah court struck down several provisions of the landmark law, saying they “Not Islamic.”

It stipulates that a person cannot change his gender based on “inner feelings” or “self-identity” and must comply with The biological sex assigned to them at birth.

The constitutional mandate of the sharia courts is to review and determine whether laws passed by the Pakistani parliament are in accordance with the teachings of sharia.

About a dozen activists protested the ruling in the southern port city of Karachi on Saturday.

Sara Malkani, a lawyer who spoke at an event organized by the Gender Interaction Coalition, denied that the legislation was not Shariah-compliant. The existence of two genders does not limit the concept of gender identity, she said, and Islamic texts, including the Qur’an, do not associate specific behaviors with a specific gender.

“We absolutely intend to appeal the court’s findings to the Supreme Court and we will prevail,” Nayyab Ali, executive director of Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan, told a news conference on Friday.

Ali said transgender community Pakistan’s first transgender rights protection legislation “failed miserably” in response to Islamic court findings.

However, representatives of clergy and religious groups said the law risks promoting homosexuality in the conservative Muslim-majority country. They want the Islamic court to repeal the law.

The Sharia court has ruled that the use of the term “transgender” in the law is confusing. It covers a variety of biological variations, including intersex, transgender male, transgender female and Khawaja Sira, a Pakistani term commonly used for those who are born male but identify as female.

It also rejected a provision in the law under which the country’s national database and registry would allow changing a person’s biological sex other than the one they were assigned at birth on identity documents, including driver’s licenses and passports .

It said allowing anyone to change gender based on his or her inner feelings or self-perceived identity would create “serious religious, legal and social problems”.

For example, it would allow transgender women — people who are biologically male — to enter women’s social and religious gatherings or women-only public spaces, and vice versa, it said.

“This law will pave the way for criminals in society to easily commit crimes such as sexual harassment, sexual assault and even rape against women.” masquerading as a transgender woman,” the court ruled.

However, the court said Islamic law recognized the existence of intersex people and eunuchs, saying they should be entitled to all the basic rights guaranteed to Pakistanis by the constitution.

this pakistan human rights commission Expressed disappointment at the “regressive ruling” and said denying trans people the right to a self-perceived gender identity seeks to “erase an entire population and its fundamental rights”.Overturning the transgender bill would lead to further marginalization and abuse, it said Pakistan’s already fragile communities.

Amnesty International is calling on governments to halt any attempts to prevent transgender people from obtaining official documents that reflect their gender identity without complying with abusive and offensive demands.

“This sentence is a blow to the rights of Pakistan’s already beleaguered transgender and gender diverse population,” Rehab Mahamoor, Amnesty International’s research associate, said in a statement.

Any measure that takes away the right of transgender and gender diverse people to decide for themselves, she said gender identity would violate international human rights law.

Sana, a 40-year-old eunuch in Rawalpindi who asked not to be named, told The Associated Press on Saturday that she stood by the court’s decision because of the large number of gay men included in her ” Original and born” eunuch community.

She claimed that those who had undergone surgical castration to become transgender were “disenfranchising her community” by affecting their access to employment under the job quota reserved by the government for their community.