ABDULLAH MUGHAL

LAHORE: The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in collaboration with the Social Welfare and Bait-ul-Mal (SW&BM) Punjab has issued 1471 computerized national identity cards (CNICs) so far to transgender community in Punjab.

An official of the SW&BM told Business Recorder on Wednesday that till date almost 1471 CNICs have been issued to transgender community living in Punjab while the registration process of additional 530 transgenders is under way and they will receive their CNICs shortly.

“Following the directives of the Supreme Court, we have established district implementation committees across the province which will be headed by the concerned deputy commissioners and deputy directors of the SW&BM,” the official said, adding that a facilitation cell titled ‘Provincial Centre for the Facilitation of Transgender Community’ has also been set up at Fountain House, Lahore, under the supervision of Punjab Chief Secretary.

The official said the provincial facilitation centre will compile all the guidelines gathered from the district implementation committees which will help them in efficiently addressing the issues of transgenders.

He said the progress of the implementation committees will be monitored on regular basis so that the transgenders could get all the benefits without any hassle, adding that special instructions have been issued to all deputy commissioners to ensure smooth registration mechanism for the transgenders in their respective areas.

Last month, the apex court had taken suo motu notice about the non-issuance of CNICs to transgender and directed the Nadra to ensure that all members of this community are issued CNICs through one-window facility, possibly within a week from the day of application. The court also formed a committee comprising Punjab Chief Secretary Akbar Durrani, Health Secretary Najam Shah, Akhuwat Foundation Chairman Humayon Saleem and an officer of Nadra to provide recommendation on the matter.