KARACHI: The city witnessed its most lively and most trendy festival when members of the transgender community came out to celebrate their existence and help the world get to know them better while clearing so many misconceptions about them through the country’s first Hejra Festival here on Friday.

They came from all over the country, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh. They held up banners and placards. The big pink banner behind which they walked from the Karachi Press Club Roundabout to the Arts Council of Pakistan read ‘Hejray tau jaag rahe hain/Sau tau ye muashra gaya hai’ (The transgender community is awake/But society has fallen asleep). It also mentioned their three points: ‘Existence, resistance and resilience’.

Meanwhile, the messages on the placards were of all kinds, serious as well as light-hearted. If one read ‘Proud of our existence’, another read ‘Looking wow!’

When asked why they named the event ‘Hejra Festival’ as ‘hejra’ seemed like a demeaning label, Kami Sid, one of the organisers, cleared that the name was not at all demeaning to them. “Our community calls ourselves hejras. We are proud to be who we are. The name may be demeaning to you, but not to us,” Kami, who was dressed in a pretty bright rainbow colour striped sleeveless dress, explained before posing for a selfie with someone and stopping them from clicking just in time, saying: “Hey hold the phone this way, or my face will look too big.”

Country’s first Hejra Festival held with motto of ‘existence, resistance and resilience’

Then when some others asked her to pose with them, requesting her to come in the middle for the picture, Kami chuckled: “Oh hey, but I already am the ‘middle’.”

Kami was there with the entire team of five organisers, including herself, Dr Sara Gill, Advocate Nisha Rao, Bebo Haider and chief organiser Hina Pathani.

“We hope that this festival will be the beginning of defeating the stereotypes about our community while also highlighting the positive and soft image of Pakistan,” said Hina Pathani. “We want to tell the world that we are a beautiful and happy community, who would like to be taken seriously instead of being looked down upon,” she added.

Some of the most glamorous looking transgender persons stepped out of a van with visitors from Lahore. They all made bold fashion statements. One couldn’t help but admire the yellow printed gharara worn with a black kurti, the bright colour culottes with printed blouses, pretty sarees and chunris, the neat bags, cool footwear, including heels, court shoes, sandals, chappals and khussas.

Many wore their hair short and sassy while many wore it long with hair extensions. All wore jewellery, including lockets, chokers, bangles and jhumkas.

Christy in a pretty aquamarine shalwar kameez, flawless make-up and light shade lenses that reflected her dress colour introduced herself as a make-up artist and influencer. She spoke fluent English and said that she had studied up to BCom. Christy was joined by another friend, Samina Abbasi from Lahore in a maroon suit. She said that she was a dermatologist and the owner of a salon.

Christy and Samina also explained to Dawn that the Hijra Festival was more about celebrating their existence while the Moorat March, which was held in November last year, was more about their demands.

For all those who had taken the extra trouble to dress up, there were also those who preferred simplicity.

Dua, Jia, Guria, Pinky, Reem, Kiran, Hajani and Solan Devi from Larkana said that they liked natural beauty more. “No, no, that’s not it,” said Moazzam Ali, a transgender project manager from Sukkur. “All those from Larkana, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Hyderabad have only just arrived in Karachi on Friday so they didn’t have much time to dress and are also tired. The ones from Punjab, KP, etc, arrived a day earlier so they look more prepared,” she pointed out.

When Moazzam was asked how come she didn’t have a female name, she said that she sometimes did use the name ‘Jahan’ along with her first name. “My late mother, who was very supportive of me, had named me Moazzam and I don’t want to change that. Still, I do sometimes go by Moazzam Jahan,” she smiled.

The transgender people were also joined by a number of other people who supported them, including several NGOs and trade unions such as the Home-Based Women Workers Federation and the National Trade Union Federation.

There were also individuals there to meet them. Rehana Sabir said that she came all the way from Keamari to attend the festival. She was also there with her aunt Nargis Pervez and her little boys Samuel and Shoul who shook hands with several from the transgender community and took selfies with them.

“I have specially come here today with my young sons because I want them to understand that the Khwajasira community are peace-loving gentle souls, who just like to sing and dance and spread happiness in the world. They are not to be made fun of,” said Ms Sabir. “My parents explained this to me when I was young and I want the same for my children. Every human being deserves respect,” she said.

The singing, dancing and chanting rally was followed by a gathering at the Arts Council of Pakistan where the community spoke to spread awareness about themselves and their rights. Later, a candlelight vigil concluded the programme.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2023