“We have no yearning for being men or women, we are quite satisfied with what God made us. Whether people call us gay, homosexual, bisexual or Heejra and Khhusra, we call ourselves Khwaja Sra because this is our true identity. The number of Khwaja Sras in Lahore is approximately four lakhs, but there is no system to make them effective citizens. Even the government does not heed the plight of those who are old and living a miserable life,” said Nusrat Ara Aashi, chairperson of the Be Ghar Foundation (regd).
Nusrat Ara Aashi, who is commonly known as Aashi Baji in Pakistan, is the Guru (figurehead) of Lahore’s Khwaja Sras. Living at a rented house in Jutian Wala Bazaar (Sheikhupura Bazaar) of Taxali Gate or red-light district, Aashi is spending a healthy life with her friends. She calls some of them Baiti (daughter), some Maan (mother) and some aunty. A tomcat named Sonu Butt sleeps with her on her bed and she loves him like her child. Claiming to have no yearning and deprivation, she says she is earning more than ministers by performing dance with her team at weddings and parties in and around the city. “Though the red-light district (Heera Mandi) in our neighbourhood is almost finished now, it has cast no effect on our business. We are living in this area as satisfactorily today as in the past. I have bought a one-kanal plot near Shahdara where a house will be constructed to provide food and shelter to those poor Khwaja Sras who have grown older and have no source of income,” said Aashi while talking to this scribe in an exclusive interview.
“We have been created by God. Dancing at parties is not the only job we can do. If patronised by the government or philanthropists, many of us can become professional cooks, tailors, mechanics, politicians, engineers, doctors, etc. Which job can’t we do? But who will bear the expenses for our formal education?” Aashi said, adding that it was only the Sindh government which provided some jobs to Khwaja Sras. There is no official care for “our community in any other part of the country”.
Praising former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, she said: “We have at least got a different identity because of his orders. Now on the national identity card, there are separate sections for Khwaja Sra Mard (man) and Aurat (woman). After this development, there is a positive change in the police attitude towards us. The general public has also changed their approach. They normally don’t taunt us on the streets as they used to do just a decade ago, and if they still do so with some, that is because of our friends’ ‘foolish gestures’. Otherwise, no one dares challenge us because we always maintain our esteem.”
Zaib, another well-looking Khwaja Sra visiting Aashi Baji’s house, said: “It’s people who force some of us to sexual activities. They are perverts and lure us into the ‘dirty business’. Otherwise, most of the Moorats (Khwaja Sras) are not interested in sex.” She pointed to Aashi Baji’s beauty and good health even at the age of 45 and said people come to her to have her blessings. They request her to pray for them.
Without taking any name, Aashi said her one brother was an MNA and another MPA. She said she gave lectures at the LUMS and visited all the Khwaja Sras needing help. Enumerating her achievements, she said: “She visited Dr Amjad Saqib who is running the Akhuwat Foundation set up by Dr Haroonur Rasheed, and convinced him to also register Khwaja Sras for charity which his organisation gives to the poor on a monthly basis. “Thank God, he agreed with me and, at present, about 450 Khwaja Sras are getting a monthly stipend of Rs 1,200 each. Besides, the late Hafeez Jallundhary’s grandson Qasim has established an organisation to help our community. Though a section of us lives in its true get-up, there are thousands of people who have souls like ours but don’t open up. I can name a number of parliamentarians including some ministers but won’t do it for the cause of their prestige,” said Aashi looking into the air with meaningful eyes.
Responding to a question about their health, she said: “We are as healthy as other people. We face no particular disease or physical drawback in any phase of life. We spend a life as normally as other men or women do.”
Getting somewhat angry over a question about their funeral, she said: “I have got tired answering this query.” “…There is no difference between our and other people’s funeral. We believe in God and His prophet Muhammad (PBUH). We go to shrines and say our prayers. Why should our funeral be different from others?” she said, giving a reference from the book titled “Nim Wala Wehra” which revolves around Khwaja Sras in District Kasur and their Guru called Bala.
“Once we were considered so pious that children from royal families were sent to us to learn etiquette. Mogul kings would reserve a space for us in their palaces and give us domestic jobs. People of our community also serve in Makkah and Madinah. A group of us regularly attends Tableeghi Ijtema in Raiwind and spreads peaceful Islamic teachings in the society. With the passage of time, there was a change in the social mindset. And then people started considering us inferior, forgetting the creativity of God Who is the Creator of the whole universe and made nothing meaningless,” Aashi said, adding: “Like me, Bindia Rana is working in Karachi for the welfare of Khwaja Sras.
“If we are not provided government jobs, stipends or other livelihood means, what option we are left with. Some of us, who are beautiful and smart, learn dancing and enliven rich people’s parties. Some go to houses to take Wadai (charity) on boys’ births. And when there is no option left to earn money and fill the belly, some of us become sex workers, but no one among us resorts to crime,” said Shahid who is married and has three children but also enjoys the company of Aashi Baji.
(Note: The interview was conducted few years ago.)
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