Jamat-e-Islami turns to Federal Shariat Court against 'Transgender Rights Bill 2018'

Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamat-e-Islami (JI) has filed a petition in the Federal Shariat Court against the Transgender Rights Bill 2018, claiming it’s in contradiction with the Islamic principles of heredity, ARY News reported. 

The JI leader argued that the bill would cause complications in Islamic heredity rules.

The petition, filed by the JI senator, would be persecuted by Lawyer Imran Shafique Advocate. Senate’s Human rights Committee had debated the bill in its September 5 session.

In the session, the JI leader suggested that if someone files a gender change request in NADRA, they must undergo a medical test first. The bill has given individuals the right to change their gender identity, 30,000 people have applied to NADRA to change their gender, the JI senator said.

The authority to identify one’s gender should be with the medical board and not with the individual, he said.

Mushtaq Ahmed claimed that the bill is a contradiction with Islamic hereditary principles. Chairman Federal Shariat Court inquired whether the Islamic Ideology Council was consulted when passing the law. The senator said that the council was not consulted.

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The Human Rights Committee opposed the amends presented by the senator, saying the matter is sub-judice and should not be tampered with.