Bindiya Rana

Last updated

Bindiya Rana is a Pakistani transgender activist. She is a member of the Khwaja Sara community and the founder and president of Gender Interactive Alliance headquartered in Pakistan. Rana ran for a seat in the provincial assembly in Karachi but lost the election.

Contents

Early life

Rana was born into a family comprising 12 siblings. As an adolescent, she spent a significant amount of time in a dera, a place that houses trans persons. With help from her father, Bindiya rented an apartment in Karachi at the age of 15. Though hesitant and with a few obstacles at first, her family has come to support her. [1]

Activism

Rana is the founder and president of the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA). Other executive members have included Rifee Khan, Rimsha and Sara Gill. [2] [3] The GIA has aided its trans members in availing of ID cards. Rana is a petitioner in the Sindh High Court of Pakistan for trans rights. She is one of the primary representatives of the Khwaja Sira community in Pakistan. [2] [4]

In 2013, Bindiya contested an election in Karachi, whereupon she was subject to a number of death threats. This was an attempt for a seat in the provincial assembly. Her gender identity created obstacles in her ability to contest elections, wherein she had to file a case in the Supreme Court. She was unable to secure a seat in the elections. [5] [6] [7]

In her community, Rana is considered to be a guru, and she has over 50 apprentices or chelas. [8] She has called out the faulty representation of trans persons in the Pakistani Census, leading to a count that was far lower than the estimate. [9] Rana is an advocate of healthcare and is against sexual violence inflicted on trans persons. She has aided in the setup of free medical camps for women and children in the interior Sindh and Balochistan. [7]

In 2015, Rana was involved in a protest against the lack of polling booths for trans persons for the local government polls. As a result, the trans community decided to boycott the elections. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hijra (South Asia)</span> Third gender of South Asian cultures

In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are transgender, intersex, or eunuch people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as the guru-chela system. They are also known as aravani, aruvani, and jogappa, and in Pakistan, khawaja sira.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London</span> Political party in Pakistan

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), previously known as Muhajir Qaumi Movement, is a secular political party in Pakistan that was founded by Altaf Hussain in 1984. Currently the party is split between two main factions. MQM-London faction is controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while MQM-Pakistan is run by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan. Its electoral symbol was a kite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violence against transgender people</span> Violence or victimization against transgender people

Violence against transgender people includes emotional, physical, sexual, or verbal violence targeted towards transgender people. The term has also been applied to hate speech directed at transgender people and at depictions of transgender people in the media that reinforce negative stereotypes about them. Trans and non-binary gender adolescents can experience bashing in the form of bullying and harassment. When compared to their cisgender peers, trans and non-binary gender youth are at increased risk for victimisation and substance abuse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mayor of Karachi</span> Head of local government of Karachi, Pakistan

Mayor of Karachi is the executive of the Karachi metropolitan corporation and the Karachi local government system of the city of Karachi which is the third tier of governance in Pakistan after Federal and provincial governments.

The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), Urdu: اتحاد برائے بحالی جمہوریت, was a political alliance in Pakistan founded in 1981 by the political parties opposing the military government of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the sixth president of Pakistan. Headed by Benazir Bhutto of the Pakistan People's Party, its objective was the end of martial law and restoration of the democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Pakistan</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Pakistan face legal and social difficulties and persecution compared to non-LGBTQ persons. Pakistani law prescribes criminal penalties for same-sex sexual acts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Karachi</span> Overview of the political system of Karachi, Pakistan

The Politics of Karachi takes place at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of the government. Karachi is a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multireligious metropolitan city. The demographics of Karachi are important as most politics in Karachi is driven by ethnic politics.

Ayesha Gulalai Wazir is a Pakistani politician who was a former Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2013 to May 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PS-110 Karachi South-V</span> Constituency of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, Pakistan

PS-110 Karachi South-V is a constituency of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh. This constituency from 2002-2018 was demarcated as PS-113 Karachi-XXV, from 2018-2023 the Election Commission of Pakistan labelled this area as PS-111 Karachi South-V and after 2023 this constituency is presently PS-110 Karachi South-V.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pak Sarzameen Party</span> Defunct Pakistani political party

Pak Sarzameen Party was a Pakistani political party founded by Syed Mustafa Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani on 23 March 2016. Ashfaq Mangi, Hassan Sabir, Iftikhar Alam and Shabbir Qaimkhani were senior members of the party. It merged into Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan on 12 January 2023.

Ghulam Jeelani Posswal was a Kashmiri politician who was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Kashmir from 2018 - 2023

Kami Sid is the first Pakistani trans person to rise to prominence as a fashion model. Sid is also an actor and LGBTQ rights activist. Sid also became a controversial figure after accusations of rape and sexual assault against her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Sindh provincial election</span>

Provincial elections were held in the Pakistani province of Sindh to elect the members of the 13th Provincial Assembly of Sindh on 25 July 2018, alongside nationwide general elections and three other provincial elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab. The remaining two territories of Pakistan, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, were ineligible to vote due to their disputed status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Democratic Alliance</span> Political party in Pakistan

The Grand Democratic Alliance is a regional political coalition of seven Sindh-based political parties. It was founded on 23 October 2017 by the Sindh-based regional political parties along with some rival dissident politicians from Pakistan Peoples Party as a political alliance against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh, accusing it of Political victimization of opponents by using Fascist Authoritarian political policies and has been a critic of Asif Ali Zardari (PPP) president the alliance accused him of supporting Nepotism and Corruption in the region and usurping the Pakistan Peoples Party by using the Bhutto family name to gain power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imran Ismail</span> Pakistani businessman and politician

Imran Ismail is a Pakistani businessman and politician. He served as the 33rd governor of Sindh from 27 August 2018 to 18 April 2022. Before being appointed Governor of Sindh, he was a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh for a brief period in August 2018.

Nayyab Ali is a Pakistani transgender activist with over ten years of experience advocating for and defending the human rights of the transgender community in Pakistan. Her work addresses issues such as gender inequality and focuses on economically empowering and improving the livelihoods of transgender individuals. In 2020, she was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights for her efforts in promoting transgender rights. Ali was also one of the first among thirteen transgender candidates to run for election in the 2018 Pakistan elections. Additionally, she is the first Pakistani to receive the GALA award and the first transgender woman to be elected as co-chairperson of the EVAW/G Alliance. In 2020, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Pakistan named her a Gender Equality Advocate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisha Rao</span> Pakistani lawyer and activist

NishaRao is a Pakistani transgender lawyer, advocate and activist. In 2020, she became the first transgender law graduate in Pakistan.

Muhammad Iftikhar Alam is a Pakistani politician who has been member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh from 2013 to 2018. He was elected for another term in February 2024.

Sara Gill is a Pakistani physician and transgender activist. After her graduation from medical school she was widely described as "Pakistan's first transgender doctor".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NA-242 Karachi Keamari-I</span> Constituency of the National Assembly of Pakistan

NA-242 Karachi Keamari-I is a constituency for the National Assembly of Pakistan that encompasses Baldia.

References

  1. ↑ "How Abdul Aziz became Bindiya Rana - Samaa TV". www.samaa.tv. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  2. 1 2 "Executive Committee". Gender Interactive Alliance Pakistan. 2010-04-26. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  3. ↑ "Gender column added to CNIC forms for transvestites, SHC told". DAWN.COM. 2010-12-15. Retrieved 2021-10-12.
  4. ↑ "'I don't want people to mock you—I want people to look up to you'". Pulitzer Center. 2017-09-01. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  5. ↑ "Bindia Rana, Pakistan's First Transgender Candidate". Huffington Post. Reuters. 2013-05-09. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  6. ↑ "Transgenders are not running in the elections for your entertainment!" . Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  7. 1 2 "Interview: Pakistani Transgender Activist Looks to 'New Dawn' of Rights, Dignity". Asia Society. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  8. ↑ "Pakistan's traditional third gender isn't happy with the trans movement". WGBH News. 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  9. ↑ "Why was the transgender community undercounted?". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
  10. ↑ "Transgender community decides to boycott LG polls | Pakistan Gender News". www.pakistangendernews.org. 4 December 2015. Retrieved 2018-04-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.