Students of the Department of Mass Communication at Forman Christian College (A Chartered University) organised an awareness seminar on “transgender rights” on May 31, 2022 as a part of their final project campaign for the course Communication Campaign Design (MCOM415). The campaigners included Ms Rameesha Waqas, Ms Hadia Irfan, Mr Usman Ikram, Mr Mahnoor Tariq, Mr Hassan, and Mr Daud Javaid. They were supervised by Assistant Professor of the Department of Mass Communication, Mr Syed Muhammad Saqib.
Among the attendees were Ms Rachel Hasan, Chairperson Department of Mass Communication, and Brig (R) Dr Nayer Fardows, Registrar of Forman Christian College (A Chartered University). Dr Nayer delivered a welcome speech. In his address, he announced that FCCU is working on a comprehensive policy for transgender rights to give them a separate respective identity during admissions and other activities.
The guest speakers were Ms Syeda Imtiaz, General Secretary of Voice Society, National chairperson of CIP/TDEA, and trainer for women, people with disabilities and transgender persons in Sialkot, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur, and Ms Jannat Ali, who is a transgender activist (Artist & Activist), Executive director of community-based organisation Track-T, and a motivational speaker, trainer and change mentor. She works on community capacity development, civil society and institution sensitisation, advocacy, and trans healthcare. She is also the founder of the trans pride march in Pakistan and has contributed to legislation to protect trans rights. Ms Syeda Imtiaz talked about the rights of people with disabilities concerning the code of construction 2006 and about transgender rights concerning the transgender rights act in Pakistan. She also appreciated Ms Jannat Ali in her speech and lauded her efforts in achieving her goals. Ms Jannat Ali, in her speech, stressed the need to understand the concept of equality and equity. She shared, “I achieved my goals with the motive of ‘Claim Your space’”.
At the end of the seminar, the guests were given flower bouquets as a token of appreciation by the chairperson Department of Mass Communication, Ms Rachel Hasan and course instructor, Mr Syed M Saqib. The seminar was very informative and was attended by students from various departments at FCCU.
