“We’re only asking the government to do the same things that they are doing for everyone else,” Malaika Kinnar said. “We are asking the government to make Aadhaar cards for transgender people who don’t have cards.”
Kashmir’s transgender community was hit hard in August 2019 when the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370. As the clampdown in 2019 spilled into lockdowns due to COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021, the community has been isolated and without medical help. Many transgender people in Kashmir have not been vaccinated because they lack documents like Aadhaar cards.
A collective called the Palzun Foundation organised a medical camp for transgender people in Srinagar on 20 June. The one-day medical camp in the Sher-i-Kashmir park in Srinagar was a small step to extend help to the community during the COVID-19 crisis.