On May 19, 2023, the Federal Shariat Court in Pakistan decided to revoke certain rights from trans people by striking down sections of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. These stricken down sections regarded rights such as official recognition of self-defined gender identity and the right to inheritance. 

This decision was made as they allege the act made it easier for men to gain access to “exclusive spaces” intended for women. This claim, however, was made without any publicly available information to support it.

Two days prior to the amendment, Amnesty International urged members of the Pakistani government to reject all proposals made to change the Act, saying that it would violate international human rights laws and standards.

While these rights have been revoked, gender-affirming care is still legal to access, but not widely available. One trans woman named Bunty, in an interview with AFP, said that to get her breast augmentation surgery, she had to go to one of the only two willing and qualified doctors in the entirety of Pakistan. However, she was charged twice the rate of a cisgender customer, and the operation took place in an “underground” environment. 

Bunty further spoke about how she was “forced to leave only two hours after the surgery”, while in “extreme pain”. Due to her gender identity, Bunty was shunned by her family and forced to change her name. She was then forced out of her career, which led her to begin sex work. 

Reem Sharif, who is a member of a dera, a communal household for trans people in Pakistan, said that public hospitals turn away any trans people enquiring about gender-affirming services. She quoted one healthcare worker telling her, “Have fear of God, how can you try to do this?”

In September of 2025, three trans women were shot and killed outside of a restaurant while begging in the city of Karachi. Only a few months later, Zehrish Khanzadi and Bindiya Rana, two trans women at the head of the Gender Interactive Alliance Pakistan (GIA), were at home when armed gunmen shot three bullets through their front door. Khanzadi said Rana “Narrowly escaped all three bullets” in an interview with The Journal.

Safety is a huge concern in Pakistan for cisgender and trans women. Khanzadi went on to explain, “Many trans women are afraid to go beyond their own doorsteps, begging or sex work is their only income, and even that has been taken away”.

This is made only more apparent by another attack two days before the murders in Karachi, where a trans woman named Nadira was begging in Karachi, only to be stabbed with an eight-inch knife when she rejected a man’s sexual advances. As a result of the attack, she required a blood transfusion and 35 stitches.

A transgender man by the name of Zarun Ishaqu told AFP, “My brother threatened to kill me and demanded that either I be thrown out of the house, or he would hurt me, blaming me for ruining their honour and their reputation.”

While trans people are facing high amounts of violent and societal discrimination in Pakistan, they find much solidarity in each other. Both Zarun and another trans man by the pseudonym of Haroon say that despite the violence, “My inner self has come out, and I am very happy with my life like this.”