Performing Piety in Pakistan's Transgender Rights Movement

Abstract

Pakistani hijra/khwaja siras make up structured communities of feminine-identified gender-variant persons who have long but marginalized traditions of performing religious-cultural roles. Supreme Court rulings in 2009, promising rights to marginalized khwaja siras, have led to increased backlash against these performances and the community structures on which they rest. This article explores these traditional performance practices, within the Sufi shrine and in homes, as well as in explicit activism as khwaja siras contested their place in the national 2013 elections. These assertions of piety, drawn creatively from Sufi and Shi'a modes and often performed on the fringes or lower rungs of developmental activism, offer an embodied outlet for negotiating multiple axes of exclusion. While recent scholarship has claimed that in the context of reformist Islamic movements khwaja siras are turning away from the spaces of legitimacy that Sufism once offered and toward the liberal language of human rights to make claims for recognition, the author argues that these pious performances continue to provide a potent force for transgender activism in Pakistan.

“I would prefer to be dead than to live this way”: Lived experiences of stigma and discrimination against khwaja sira in Swat, Pakistan

“…Khwaja sira experienced significant levels of discrimination and violence based on gender (Pamment, 2019 ), which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Peshawar, KP, khwaja sira reported experiencing social exclusion, job scarcity, homelessness, and mental health issues (Shah et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Although we are unaware of comparative studies looking at urban versus rural environments, attitudes toward third gender communities may also be less inclusive in rural and militant environments, like Swat, over urban settings, like Karachi or Lahore. Khwaja sira experienced significant levels of discrimination and violence based on gender (Pamment, 2019), which were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Peshawar, KP, khwaja sira reported experiencing social exclusion, job scarcity, homelessness, and mental health issues (Shah et al, 2023).…”

A Global Analysis of Transgender Rights: Introducing the Trans Rights Indicator Project (TRIP)

“…The legal situation began to shift following an incident in the city of Rawalpindi. In January 2009, Rawalpindi police raided a wedding ceremony and arrested several gender diverse individuals (Pamment 2019;Redding 2018). The arrests sparked protests and ultimately culminated in activists filing a legal petition with the Supreme Court.…”

Hijras and South Asian historiography

“…2 This paragraph draws from Dutta, 2012;Hinchy, 2019;Hossain, 2012;Pamment, 2019a;Reddy, 2005;Saria, 2021. 3 As well as queer/transgender studies, linguistics, performance studies, musicology, legal studies, philosophy and other disciplines.…”

“…2 2 This paragraph draws from Dutta, 2012; Hinchy, 2019; Hossain, 2012; Pamment, 2019a; Reddy, 2005; Saria, 2021. …”