PESHAWAR: For years, Sobia Khan had to navigate a society where being different often meant being pushed to the margins. Today, she walks through the gates of Peshawar Jail not as an outsider, but as a prison warder, a position she reached after overcoming social barriers, personal struggles and the challenges that come with being a transgender person in Pakistan.Khan is the first transgender person to be appointed as a warder in Peshawar’s prison department, a development that has opened a new chapter for transgender representation in
government employment.
Speaking to Newsman, Khan recalled the difficulties she faced throughout her life and the challenges she had to overcome to reach the position she holds today. She said she refused to allow social barriers and discrimination to determine her future and continued to pursue opportunities despite the difficulties. For Khan, wearing the warder’s uniform is about much more than securing a government job. It represents a journey from social exclusion to becoming part of a mainstream institution. Her appointment has also become part of a broader initiative by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prison department to create employment opportunities for transgender people. Inspector General of Prisons Rehan Gul Khattak described the initiative as a “paradigm shift”, saying the department had decided to open more employment opportunities for transgender people.
“We want educated transgender people to come into the mainstream and for their social exclusion to end,” Khattak told Newsman.He said the department had adopted a policy of providing employment opportunities to transgender people and had allocated posts for them.
According to Khattak, of the 18 posts initially allocated under the recruitment process, two could not be filled. In the next phase, the department has advertised 16 posts specifically for transgender people, along with 115 posts for minorities.He said educated transgender candidates had applied for the positions after learning that the
government was offering them an opportunity to earn a respectable livelihood through employment.
The development, Khattak said, reflects a broader effort to bring transgender people into the mainstream rather than leaving them socially and economically excluded. Deputy Inspector of Prisons Baitullah Khan said such initiatives were essential to making transgender people an active and accepted part of society.
“Such steps are necessary to provide them with acceptance and equal opportunities for progress
in society,” Khan told Newsman.
He acknowledged that changing social attitudes remained a challenge, particularly because transgender people are often accepted in certain traditional roles but face resistance when seeking mainstream employment.
“There is community pressure as well. We accept them as dancers, but as service people, our society does not accept them,” he said. Khan said the prison department considered itself a pioneer in taking the first steps towards bringing transgender people into the workforce. “We feel proud that we are pioneers in starting this initiative and bringing them into the department,” he said.
The initiative is significant for people such as Sobia Khan, whose journey demonstrates the difference that access to employment can make.For years, transgender people in Pakistan have faced barriers to education, employment and
social acceptance. While governments have introduced measures aimed at improving their access to employment, implementation and social attitudes remain important challenges.For Khan, however, the journey has already produced a tangible change. The uniform she now wears represents not only a job but also recognition, responsibility and a
place within an institution from which transgender people have traditionally remained excluded.Her story could also encourage other educated transgender people to seek opportunities in the mainstream workforce rather than being confined to roles society has traditionally associated with them .Khan says she wants to be recognised for her abilities and work rather than judged solely on her gender identity.Her appointment therefore carries a significance beyond one individual career. It marks an attempt to move from simply talking about transgender inclusion to creating actual opportunities for transgender people to work, earn with dignity and become part of mainstream public institutions. For Sobia Khan, the journey from facing social barriers to wearing the uniform of a prison warder is a personal achievement. For the prison department, officials say, it is the beginning of a wider
effort to reduce social exclusion and open the doors of public-sector employment to a community
that has long remained on the margins.
