PESHAWAR: A transvestite has accused a group of local people of demanding Rs500,000 from him as extortion money, and appealed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to provide him protection and take action against the accused persons.

Speaking at a news conference at Peshawar Press Club on Friday, Danish alias Pretty of Faqirabad said that the accused led by Abdur Rehman alias Zahid Khan of Afghan Colony used to snatch whatever cash he had for the past seven months.

On Thursday evening, the transvestite said he had to attend a function at Qazi Kili, Peshawar, where the accused subjected him to violence, torn his clothes and snatch his cell phone without any reason.

“I went to Faqirabad police station to get a case registered against the persons but the police declined to lodge the FIR,” the complainant said and added that the accused persons had made lives of the people of his community miserable.

The transvestites, he said had nothing to do with the affairs of rest of the people in the area, and they earned their livelihood by amusing the people in marriages, engagements and other occasions.

Abdur Rehman said it was duty of the government to provide them (eunuchs) with basic facilities of life and ensure their protection. He said that police were reluctant to take action against the extortionists.

“The accused persons are so influential that the relevant police are also not ready to register case against them,” he maintained.

Published in Dawn, Aug 2nd , 2014