by Faisal Shakeel

They can be recognized in a glimpse because of their sharp make-up and colourful clothes. One can spot them at badly-lit corners of cities at night; waiting to serve their ‘clients’ for a paltry sum of money. In English they are called eunuchs and at home ‘khusras’ or khwaja siras’.

They live in slums, away from the civilised society because it refuses to accept them as human beings. Their identity is a widely-used slur. They can beg on streets and sell their bodies at night but cannot be employed.

The state believes they are neither from Mars nor from Venus and don’t deserve to be citizens of Pakistan. In a case in the Supreme Court recently, Boby Shah, an eunuch, prayed before the Chief Justice to take steps to end their humiliation.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan was surprised to hear that Boby and his friends are not even issued with national identity cards let alone an opportunity to make a decent living. The chief judge has issued directions to the government to take steps so they could be made what he called respectable citizens of Pakistan.

How has the news of Boby’s prayer been received could be gauged by its treatment on one of the local news channel. The channel picked up the news on one of its shows and ridiculed the behaviour of eunuchs. The three presenters laughed their heads off at the thought of an eunuch working at one of the government’s offices.

I strongly believe their laughter radiates from their misunderstanding. The same misunderstanding that made Boby’s family abandon her long back. “I still miss them [family] on occasions like Eids because I just can’t simply erase their memory,” says Boby.

According to Boby’s statement, there are 10,000 eunuchs in Pakistan, who are living a miserable life. The government should step forward and make laws to make their lives better. They should be given their share of jobs and inheritance if we want them to step forward from the darkness and into the light.