A woman hailing from the Swabi district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa became a man after successful surgery on Friday.
Talking to The Express Tribune, the woman’s brother Inamul Hassan said that his sister is an EDO education at Razzar Tehsil in Swabi. She earlier had two surgeries in Haripur district as well.
The unmarried woman is in her 40s and lives with her parents in a village, Yar-e-Hussain.
“A final decision about her sex would be announced after full recovery from procedures,” stated Inam.
Expressing his joy for having another brother in the family, Inam said he has six sisters and two brothers but now would have an elder brother as Umer Qureshi, referring to his sister with her new name.
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A senior official in the district education office said that it will be the decision of the provincial education ministry to let her continue on the position of EDO or change it as she is not a “woman” anymore.
She needs a medical certificate from relevant doctors after going through such procedure as it is a legal requirement in such cases, the official explained.
“I cannot comment on her future assignments as it’s purely provincial ministry’s domain and what rights would she enjoy at her office… all I can say is that she would need to produce medical certificates,” he added.
“The gender changing procedures conducted abroad are considered legal, but here due to legal restrictions and religious reason, we hide our patients from the public while the family also keeps quiet,” a doctor, who wished not to be named, told The Express Tribune.
He explained that the process required two surgeries, one for changing the gender and the other for dominating the sex they were given by the nature, adding such patients have symptoms of both genders but procedures can be different from being simple to complex depending on the body structure of the patient.
“After the procedures, we always issue the patients certificate for changing their names and genders in legal documents. If they are serving in public offices then they need to make changes in the respected department as well,” he added.
He further said that the people should not hesitate for such procedures if they have such symptoms.
“Don’t be shy about what you really are. Such procedures are mostly conducted in Thailand or other countries, but it needs legal coverage in Pakistan to avoid legal restrictions.”
He revealed that he usually performs 20 to 30 such procedures a year but people refuse to receive their certificates and try to hide the changes.
