LIVING ON THE PERIPHERY: THE
KHAWAJA SIRAS OF PAKISTAN
Sexuality, Poverty and Law

Aimen Majeedullah
January 2016

The IDS programme on Strengthening Evidence-based Policy works across seven key
themes. Each theme works with partner institutions to co-construct policy-relevant
knowledge and engage in policy-influencing processes. This material has been
developed under the Sexuality, Poverty and Law theme.
The material has been funded by UK aid from the UK Government, however the views
expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies.
AG Level 2 Output ID: 609

LIVING ON THE PERIPHERY: THE KHAWAJA SIRAS OF
PAKISTAN
Aimen Majeedullah
January 2016
This is an Open Access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are clearly
credited.
First published by the Institute of Development Studies in January 2016
© Institute of Development Studies 2016
IDS is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (No. 877338).

Academic literature suggests that development is inherently heteronormative in its narratives,
policies and practices: as a result, ‘heterosexuality is normalized, naturalized, and privileged
in societies of the global South, in the international development field, and in colonial and
post/neocolonial narratives of the so-called Third World or global South’ (Lind 2010: 7). Thus,
people with non-conforming gender and sexual identities living in poverty are rendered
invisible in development. In an attempt to counter this invisibility, this report investigates the
experiences of exclusion encountered by Khawaja Siras (KS), a gender and sexual minority
in Pakistan. It also investigates the role of a gender identity-based programme in bringing
about changes in their experience of exclusion.
The KS challenge the social and biological determinations of gender and sexual identity in
the patriarchal and heteronormative society of Pakistan. They have been a part of the subcontinent’s history for centuries (Reddy 2005). In the Mughal era the KS served as army
generals, harem guards and advisers to emperors (ibid.). However, with the onset of British
rule and the fragmentation of the Mughal courts, KS were stripped of their powerful positions
and no longer participated in government (Pamment 2010). Today they experience extreme
levels of stigmatisation and according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan are the
most disadvantaged group in Pakistan, suffering exclusion in social, cultural, economic and
political spaces (Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 2011).
Persistent discrimination against this non-conforming minority prompted the Pakistan
Supreme Court to take action in 2009, when the court recognised the gender identity of KS.
As a result of the ruling, KS were given a ‘third gender’ status, which was to appear on all of
their official documents, and they were accorded the right to vote as KS and to contest
elections. Following this, in 2012 the court’s subsequent ruling also guaranteed a series of –
previously denied – inheritance rights; assured them of protection from abuse by the police
and other organs of the state; and directed provincial government agencies to provide KS
access to health care, education and employment (Redding 2012).
Despite this recognition of their identity and subsequent rights, normative societal
prescriptions still push KS to the periphery, denying them full participation in society. This
denial not only robs them of livelihood opportunities and education, but also subjects them to
extreme levels of abuse at the hands of family and various social actors. Recognising the
marginalisation of KS, Akhuwat-Fountain House, a non-governmental organisation (NGO)
based in Lahore, Pakistan, began the ‘Khawaja Siras Socio-Economic Rehabilitation
Programme’. This programme aims to alleviate the exclusion experienced by KS to help
them tap into the economic and social resources available in society.
This case study focuses on understanding the role played by this NGO-run, gender identitybased programme in alleviating the poverty KS experience. To carry out this investigation,
the study focuses on understanding the social and economic exclusion KS experience. It
also aims to analyse how the gender identity-based programme that Akhuwat-Fountain
House initiated is changing this situation.
This study draws on primary data collected in June 2015 through in-depth semi-structured
interviews with six KS and Akhuwat-Fountain House’s programme manager. This research is
geographically limited to Lahore because this is where the Khawaja Siras Socio-Economic
Rehabilitation Programme works. Moreover, it is limited to studying the experiences of KS
involved in the programme.
To conceptualise the exclusion KS experience, the report uses the web of poverty’s
disadvantages (WPD) that Chambers (2005) described. This multi-dimensional web
recognises 12 interlocking and mutually reinforcing dimensions that inform the experience of
poverty. An analysis using these dimensions allows for a thorough investigation into how KS
experience poverty. By engaging through WPD with the poverty KS experience, this report
draws attention to how they experience social and economic exclusion simultaneously.
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Moreover, it highlights the centrality of their ascribed and legal inferiority in informing their
experience of exclusion on other dimensions. It also brings to the fore how the gender
identity-based programme has missed out a holistic analysis of the exclusion KS have
experienced and has not addressed their main exclusionary dimension of ascribed and legal
inferiority. However, the report recognises that the programme operates in a highly contested
and volatile space, and the work it does is truly commendable.
This study’s findings contribute to the local context literature on KS of Pakistan, while also
contributing to the global literature on the connections between gender and sexuality and
experiences of poverty. The general literature on this subject, specifically in the context of
Pakistan, is inconclusive on the vital questions regarding a holistic view of their experience of
exclusion and the ability of development programmes to tackle it.
This research fills this gap by providing a nuanced analysis of how KS experience exclusion
in the social and economic facets of their lives. Moreover, it establishes how these
dimensions of exclusion are interlinked and mutually reinforcing by tracing how ascribed and
legal inferiority associated with the KS identity impinges on their access to livelihoods,
physical health, living conditions, education, family support systems and sense of security.
Additionally, the global literature building linkages between non-conforming gender and
sexual identities and KS’ experience of poverty highlight the heteronormative assumptions
that are dominant in development practices, policies and programmes (Bedford 2005;
Cornwall and Jolly 2009). These assumptions are apparent in how development through its
programmes interacts with heterosexual married couples and heterosexual sex relations
(ibid.). This leads to non-conforming individuals becoming invisible in development practice.
As a result, theorists argue for the need to pay attention to the lived experience of the
exclusions non-conforming individuals suffer and call out development’s heteronormative
presumptions. This study has contributed to the literature by researching the lived experience
of exclusion that confronts KS in their daily lives, and has gone further by also identifying the
interplay between different dimensions that subject them to this exclusion in Pakistan.

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