Supreme Court orders survey of eunuchs across country

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed social welfare secretaries of all four provinces to conduct a survey for documenting the record of eunuchs across the country. A bench consisting of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed and Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui was hearing a petition filed by Insaaf Welfare Trust Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Khaki. The petitioner has asked the court to order a stop to violations of human rights of eunuchs. The court also directed that the status of eunuchs be determined and the court be told whether they were living with their heads (gurus) of their own accord or had they been forced to do so. The petitioner said the eunuchs were neither treated as males nor females and no rights had been determined for them. He asked the court to provide justice to them and treat them as human beings. He said this segment of society did not even have the right to vote. staff report

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