Human Rights
Pakistan TV channel hires first transgender newscaster, Maavia Malik
The incident comes days after the Senate in Pakistan approved a bill for protection of Transgender persons
A transgender newscaster appeared on TV screens for the first time in Pakistan’s history. Shiraz Hassan, a BBC Journalist from Pakistan posted a picture of Maavia Malik and wrote “Pakistan’s first news caster on screen now, Maavia Malik.”
#Pakistan first transgender news caster on screen now – Maavia Malik pic.twitter.com/uXJipyrEfL
— Shiraz Hassan (@ShirazHassan) March 23, 2018
Pakistan’s Senate, the upper house of country’s parliament, recently approved a bill for the protection of transgender persons, empowering them to determine their own gender identity.
The report of a transgender person appearing on TV as a newscaster received positive response on Twitter, with a senior blogger and a female TV anchor expressing best wishes for her.
Trans Action Pakistan estimates there are at least 500,000 transgender people in the country of 190 million. Last year a court ruled that transgender people would be counted in the national census for the first time.
ALSO READ: Krishna Kumari from Thar in Sindh to be the first Dalit woman senator in Pakistan
In February, Krishna Kumari Kohli from Thar in Pakistan’s Sindh province became the first-ever Dalit woman Senator in the Muslim-majority country, which has been visibly ensuring rights to minorities and taking progressive steps in the recent past.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had accepted the papers of the 39-year-old who was nominated by the ruling PPP for a Senate seat on minority from Sindh Assembly. The election took place on March 3.
Dr Khatumal Jeewan and Engineer Gianchand were the first and second Dalit to be nominated in Pakistan.
Earlier this month, the Pakistan Fashion Design Council (PFDC) closed designer Hamza Bokhari’s capsule craft collection, with the transgender model as his showstopper — the model who walks out the final look of a collection.
A few days before the official start of the 11th edition of the PFDC’s Sunsilk Fashion Week (SFW), the council had issued a press release for the curated concept show that would pave the way for the spring/summer fashion week.
