LAHORE: “Even today when I’m talking about that gruesome scene and how my friend was murdered, my blood freezes,” says Saima Butt, a member of the transgender community.

“I don’t think I can ever get over it.”

After going missing for three days, Muskan’s body was found in her bathroom, slashed brutally with a sharp object, and stuffed in a plastic tub. “When I saw her, all I could do was cry,” recalls Saima.

Muskan was found killed in Lahore in February this year.

Transgenders got together at the KSS (Khwaja Sirah Society) office on Monday, where community leaders highlighted the International Day of Remembrance for Transgenders and its importance.

They discussed social and legal rights, but their focus was on those who had been murdered for being transgender.

Related to Muskan’s murder - which had been a huge shock for those who knew her - Saima said that when they went to file a first information report with the, the police held the community responsible for the murder.

“The police blamed us, saying one of us must have done it,” she says. “This is a typical response.”

Neeli Rana, coordinator of the KSS, says that in this year in Lahore, five transgenders have been murdered.

“We’re not counting those cases which go unreported, or where transgenders have been attacked, or attempted to be murdered,” she said.

The audience seems in a visible shock.

“Transgenders often find themselves in countless threatening situations without doing much. All they have to do is go out in the street and the rest follows.”

Their problems are enormous and rape, abduction, torture, sexual and mental harassment, and trafficking are among them, she says.

“The worst is when a friend is the attacker as in the case of Muskan; it was her lover who murdered her.”

In another case, Saima, the KSS field coordinator, said that a man living with a transgender stole all the savings and a some other precious belongings of her.

“It is my humble advise to all that you must vet each and every one of your friends, because this is a common enough occurrence,” she pleaded.

Among the speakers was Jannat Ali, who spoke on the background of the day.

“Originally, it began in 1999 when an American transgender was murdered and her friend held a commemoration for her,” she said.

“In Pakistan, we’ve been commemorating since 2012. Slowly we are receiving a better social response and others are sympathizing with us too.”

Barristar Maryam Hayat explained the Transgender Protection Bill which aims at providing basic rights that a man and a woman also have.

“The Bill is a result of a decision by the Supreme Court in 2009, where it was said that transgenders have a separate identity and should be issued CNICs in accordance with that,” she informed.

“One part of the bill deals with criminal procedure code, and the other part deals with the basic rights.”

She said that the constitution gave basic rights but the Bill would streamline them. The law defines what a transgender actually is.

At the end of the discussion, those attending the event prayed for the lives lost because of hate crime, followed by a candle light vigil.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2017