Transgender people, who call themselves Khawaja Siras, have always enjoyed a special status on the Indian subcontinent. For five years, Pakistan enjoyed one of the most progressive laws in the world, recognising the existence of a "third gender".
But this law has just been amended. The issue of transgender rights also made headlines late last year when the Pakistani film "Joyland", the story of a love story with a transgender erotic theatre dancer, was shortlisted for the Oscars.