The Hazara are a Shia minority who face constant persecution in Pakistan. Ruquiya Hashmi - the first female Hazara candidate for the national assembly - faces death threats daily.

The Pakistani trans community is unlike the West's: hijras, as they are known, consider themselves a third gender, neither male nor female, and refer to themselves as "shemale". Samira Shackle meets Pakistan's first hijra electoral candidates.

As the country gears up for its first ever democratic transition, the secular liberal parties have been threatened into silence.

"I want to reach the assembly to become a voice for women, especially those living in the tribal areas."