Bindiya Rana is a Pakistani transgender activist and is the founder and president of the Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA). The GIA has aided its trans members in availing of ID cards. Rana was born into a family comprising 12 siblings. Rana had contested election for a seat in the provincial assembly in Karachi but lost the election. She is one of the primary representatives of the Khwaja Sira community in Pakistan. For the first time in Pakistan’s history, transgender people are running as candidates. The development marks a sign of progress for transgender people in this conservative country.
Bindiya Rana has always been active in her community and works at an organization that helps promote the rights of transgender people as well as street children and other social issues. But she decided to run for office as well after a Supreme Court ruling in 2011 allowed members of the transgender community to get national identity cards recognizing them as a separate identity — neither male or female – and allowing them to vote.
Rana has called out the faulty representation of trans persons in the Pakistani Census, leading to a count that was far lower than the estimate. Rana is an advocate of healthcare and is against sexual violence inflicted on trans persons. She has aided in the setup of free medical camps for women and children in the interior Sindh and Balochistan.
In 2015, Rana was involved in a protest against the lack of polling booths for trans persons for the local government polls. As a result, the trans community decided to boycott the elections.