ISLAMABAD - In a bid to make the registration process easier for the transgender community, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has introduced a new registration policy wherein a ‘guru’ may serve as a head of the applicant for the verification purpose.

Previously only those transgender persons whose parents' names were known and attested by a social welfare officer could obtain computerised national identity cards (CNICs) from Nadra, a spokesperson for the authority said. “However, it was found that many eunuchs do not possess valid documentation as they are lamentably abandoned by their biological families at a very young age,” he said.

The new policy has been devised in the light of the decision of the Lahore High Court, the spokesperson said.

According to the new population census results, 10,418 transgender persons are living in Pakistan. However, independent observers believe that the figure was much higher and perhaps the staff carrying out the census could not reach the entire members of the community.

The new policy says that similar to the Nadra guidelines for the registration of orphans with unknown parentage, CNICs of transgender persons with unknown parents will be processed by selecting random parents’ name from the entire database.

An already registered guru will be the head of the applicant in question and will provide biometric verification. Additionally, any valid CNIC holder shall serve as the witness for the applicant. The post-verification of these cases will be ongoing, and reviewed every six months by the Nadra vigilance department in order to ascertain the legitimacy of any case that was processed by the authority, the spokesperson said.

In accordance with a Supreme Court verdict of December 2009, the Nadra had devised a registration policy for the transgender community that entailed that any applicant from the community could get himself/herself registered with his/her desired gender. With regard to registration of transgender, the authority has already introduced "eunuch male", "eunuch female" and "unisex" gender options. It is the sole discretion of the applicant to choose his/her gender. Moreover, gender can be modified in the national identity card as per appearance or desire of the applicant, he said.

As part of the recent measures, the Nadra will start the process of registration of gurus, as it allows an already registered transgender, whosoever desires, to register themselves as "gurus" in the Nadra database. The procedure for guru registration will require a copy of his CNIC along with an affidavit form attested by a first class magistrate. After verification by the Nadra regional head office, the documents shall be forwarded to Nadra Headquarters for subsequent registration of gurus in its database, the spokesperson said.

The Nadra recognizes the barriers the transgender persons may encounter in their daily lives, and hence fully supports any measure introduced to protect the fundamental rights of the citizens as enshrined in the Constitution, said the spokesperson.