Activists on Saturday vowed to launch a Supreme Court challenge against a ruling by Pakistan's religious judiciary, which deemed various transgender legal protections un-Islamic and therefore void.
On Friday, the Federal Shariat Court — which determines whether laws accord to Islam — struck down three sections of a 2018 act hailed for providing landmark rights to the transgender community.
The Bench struck out the definition of a transgender person enshrined in law, also undoing their right to state documents like passports and inheritance proceedings matching their self-ascribed gender identity.
"This decision will further increase the incidents of violence against transgender people," said Shahzadi Rai, of the Gender Interactive Alliance and Sindh province's trans pride Moorat March organisation.
"Transgender people will be pushed further against the wall in society," Rai said in a statement after the Supreme Court legal challenge was announced at Karachi Press Club.
Despite a rich history in South Asia, most trans Pakistanis are forced to live on the fringes of society — often resorting to begging, dancing at weddings, or sex work for survival.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said 19 trans people were murdered in Pakistan last year and accused the state of getting "cold feet" over community protections.
The country's Federal Shariat Court was established in 1980 during the rule of military dictator Zia-ul-Haq as part of a sweeping Islamisation of Pakistan's institutions.
Under the constitution, laws or provisions deemed "repugnant" to Islam according to a bench of Muslim judges can "cease to have effect".
But when a challenge is lodged with the Supreme Court there is a stay on implementation, a legal expert told AFP.
In Friday's ruling, the court said according to Islamic teachings "the gender of a person is subject to the biological sex of a person".
The judges also said a section of the 2018 act outlawing transgender discrimination risks "the right to privacy of females in our society".
"This law will pave the way for criminals in society to easily commit crimes like sexual molestation, sexual assault and even rape against females," the finding said.
"This law makes it easy for a biological male to get access to the exclusive spaces and gatherings of females in the disguise of a 'transgender woman'."
Amnesty International said there is no public evidence of such incidents ever taking place in Pakistan and called the ruling "a blow to the rights of the already beleaguered group".
"The denial of essential rights of transgender and gender diverse persons should not be guided by assumptions rooted in prejudice, fear and discrimination," a statement said.
