On a petition filed by a transgender individual for violation of constitutional rights, arguing that the census excluded transgender people with disabilities. The High Court ordered the Census Commission to include transgender in a separate column. This followed a recent order dated 09 January 2017 in writ petition (No. 37499/2016), where the High Court ordered the Census Commission to include the category “Transgender” under the column “Sex” in Form-2. The transgender category was assigned code/number 3 in the said column of Form-2 under disability. The High Court’s rationale was that exclusion of persons with disabilities from the National Census would offend their welfare and future prospects as a population and therefore violate constitutional provisions of security, dignity and freedom of speech of a person. The court further observed that Pakistan had ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2011, which places an international obligation on Pakistan to collect appropriate information about persons with disabilities and to implement policies accordingly.
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