Maria B takes offence to Saba Qamar, Muneeb Butt-starrer ‘Sar-e-Rah’, calls it ‘US-funded’

Heading back from Umrah, Maria decided to take to her Instagram stories to “educate” her audience about this new plaguing issue. She made it a point to highlight in an earlier story that dialogue is key, especially since the situation remains persistent, “even in Ramazan.”

The first story consists of a post created by another Instagram user. Titled, ‘Ramadan Transmission or Indecency,” it goes on to narrate how “in the name of religion, open indecency and games are shown.” It further dives into attacking some transgender activists, claiming that they are homosexuals. Furthermore, alleged acid attacks close-calls faced by the activist were termed “scripted,” while proof was demanded of the legitimacy of the attack. Finally, the post ends with a “first and last warning,” threatening a boycott.

The atelier then continues to speak on her Instagram stories. She goes on to state that it is pertinent to address the invitations extended to transgender by talk shows, capping it off by saying, “Transgender means men. Men who have a disease, and view themselves as women due to gender dysphoria. They put on makeup and change themselves. Their relationships are abuse – they’re homosexuals. Why are normal Muslims offended by the invitation to these transgenders in Ramazan? Because this is something which is forbidden in Islam. A sign of the people of Lot. Or, if you want to see it scientifically, they call themselves women. Biologically, if a male is born, how and why would we accept they’re a woman? The West is facing this issue as well.”

The next story refers to a screenshot of a news piece where the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) stated that the transgender identity is “self-perceived” and “un-Islamic.” She says it’s prohibited and deems it illegal as well. “It is not allowed in Islam,” says Maria. “Even in Pakistan, this law has been passed. It’s been declared un-Islamic by the Sharia court. Everyone should think about doing things like these in Ramazan to respect the holy month. And those who have no idea, we can tell them this in a loving manner.”

“The second topic I wanted to discuss is Sar e Rah” she continues in her next story. “There are some talk shows happening, where it is being discussed that we have a misunderstanding.” She goes on to share a caption by actor Muneeb Butt and a description of the show where the character is called a transgender, trying to make a point about said promotions, stating, “Every actor and the channels were talking about the biggest drama about a transgender.”

She claims that it’s been funded by USAID. “We didn’t make this ourselves; this is something we saw and were shocked. Had they written intersex since the beginning we’d have no issue. They changed it later.” She then shared the edited version of Muneeb Butt’s caption that had the term “intersex”.

Maria B then clarifies that she’s not pointing fingers, especially not at the actors or writers. “I think nobody understands that this huge global movement – transgender – is unscientific. A normal-born male, ask their parents – when they change their sex, get an operation done, think about those parents. We have kids too. If kids run away and get into bad things, how do the parents feel? We’re just highlighting that intersex is the khusra community who are born that way, and I know many people like this.” She completes her note by sharing a story of Julie Khan addressing a group of people.

At a point in time when the khwajasira community is already under attack, one does wonder if such comments, regardless of their tonality, are, in fact, wise.