Pakistan has a large population of eunuchs living all over the country. The community was recently granted official status by Pakistan's supreme court. It ordered that a third section for gender should be be included in the national registration form which is completed by all citizens.
The man accused of being the "groom" said that he already has two wives. Malik Iqbal denied he was marrying the eunuch - who is known locally by the name of Rani (Queen) Sangeeta. "We were having a birthday party, but police arrested us. We had no intention of getting married," Mr Iqbal said at the police station. Rani also insisted that nothing untoward had taken place, accusing the police of "putting people in trouble unnecessarily".
Police official Akthar Ali Khattak said that the pair were taken to the local magistrate on Tuesday. "The court has now handed them over to us for further investigation," he said. Mr Khattak said that the couple were arrested along with other guests at their wedding at a local plaza in Peshawar's Faqirabad neighbourhood. Pakistan's common and Sharia law both strictly forbid marriage between anyone other than a male or female.
4 comments:
Why is it considered a "third gender"? Just because you cut off your manly bits doesn't mean you're not still genetically a male!
Maybe because they are neither men nor women? Genes are not everything and I would guess it is even more so when it comes to the opinions of the good people of Pakistan.
If that's the case, then why don't they register as women? From what I've seen, they all seem to dress like women...
I wonder how they deal with transsexuals there.
These eunuchs are the transsexuals in Pakistan. I have no doubt most of the Pakistani eunuchs would rather be women, both physically and officially, but you can realistically wish only so much in a country like Pakistan.
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