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Nearly four years after the Sindh government announced a job quota for transgender persons, the policy remains largely unimplemented due to a controversial legal condition requiring applicants to undergo physical medical examinations to verify their gender identity, as reported by The Express Tribune.
According to The Express Tribune, the quota policy was introduced through the Sindh Civil Servants Amendment Bill passed in July 2022, reserving 0.5 per cent of government jobs up to Grade 15 for transgender individuals. However, the law also mandates certification from a standing medical board before applicants can qualify for recruitment. Members of the transgender community have strongly criticised the condition, calling it degrading and discriminatory. Karachi-based transgender rights activist and Gender Interactive Alliance Operations Manager Zehrish Khanzadi questioned why transgender applicants are subjected to medical scrutiny while male and female candidates are not required to prove their gender identities for public sector employment. Khanzadi stated that despite legal recognition and the issuance of identity cards to transgender citizens in recent years, institutional discrimination continues to persist within state departments. She argued that the policy undermines dignity and creates additional barriers for an already marginalised community. He noted that the Excise and Taxation Department had recently included the transgender quota in a recruitment advertisement for the first time, but only certified applicants would qualify. Activists have also criticised the quota size, saying the 0.5 per cent allocation is too small to ensure meaningful representation. Khanzadi pointed out that in many recruitment drives, the percentage may not even translate into a single reserved position, as cited by The Express Tribune. She urged the Sindh government to follow Punjab's example, where a two per cent quota exists for transgender persons. The Vice Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Qazi Khizar, also opposed the medical examination clause and demanded its removal. He further called for increasing the quota to at least one per cent. Conflicting statistics regarding Sindh's transgender population continue to complicate the debate, as reported by The Express Tribune. (ANI)
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