LIVING BETWEEN LAWS AND CULTURE: SOCIO-RELIGIOUS PRESSURES ON THE TRANSGENDER POPULATION IN PAKISTAN

There is a paradox in Pakistan, where laws supporting transgender people run into conflict with established social and religious values. In spite of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act (2018), which supports their rights to identity, healthcare, education, and jobs, transgender individuals remain victims of discrimination, violence, and social exclusion. This article explores what transgender Pakistanis go through, revealing how the law fails to protect them during their daily lives, shaped by religion, rejection by their families, and prejudice from society. It analyzes how religious views from the right encourage stigma, while those from the left in Islam focus more on acceptance. It also looks at how transgender people deal with challenges, for example by relying on support from family or friends and by participating in activism, and the part played by NGOs and international organizations in protecting their rights. According to the article, for people to be truly included, we need to modify our attitudes in society, in addition to updating laws. The talk stresses the courage of transgender communities facing discrimination and also proposes a joint effort to align the law with the general public’s perspective. Keywords: Transgender Rights, Pakistan, Socio-Religious Discrimination, Hijra Community, Legal Frameworks, Gender Identity, Islamic Perspectives, Activism, Policy Reform, Social Inclusion.