It was a chance meeting that led to Hina immersing herself in the khawaja sira community – Pakistan’s recognized gender non-conforming identity. Hina, a development worker based in Karachi, met Shahzadi Roy, another khwaja sira, at her workplace. Shahzadi was seeking counsel on behalf of a friend who was experiencing domestic violence.
Shahzadi sensed instantly that Hina needed others like her around. She reached out, and not long after, invited Hina to come and meet her friends, and live in her communal household. This isn’t unusual in Pakistan’s trans community where, often in the absence of acceptance from families and broader society, queer people have a recorded history of relying on networks of their own choosing, known as guru-chelas, or mentors and disciples.
Over time, Shahzadi became Hina’s guru, a person she could go to for advice and support at a time when Pakistan was renegotiating its acceptance of age-old customs such as in which trans people are paid to perform
