PESHAWAR: A transgender person was killed and another injured when a man opened fire on them after their performance at a function in the Palosi area on the outskirts of the provincial capital in the early hours of Wednesday morning, police said.

The incident took place within the jurisdiction of Tehkal police station, where they had gone to perform at a mehndi ceremony. The slain transgender person was identified as Gul Parna.

Chahat, who sustained bullet wounds, later told Tehkal police that they were about to leave the premises after the performance when one of the participants took out a gun and shot them both. Gul Parna received six bullets and died on way to hospital, while Chahat was rushed to Khyber Teaching Hospital, where she was being treated.

A city police spokesperson said that when the transgender persons were getting into a vehicle after the event, unknown assailants opened fire on them, which left one dead and the other injured. He said city police chief Mohammad Ali Gandapur had constituted a committee headed by SP cantonment circle Hassan Jahangir Wattoo to investigate the murder.

SP Wattoo told Dawn that police were investigating the case from multiple angles.

Taimur Kamal, a transgender rights activist, told Dawn that about 69 transgender persons have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015, while several others were attacked.

Mr Kamal said the low rate of conviction in killings and attacks on transgender people were also fueling the violence against them. He said that only the killers of transgender person Ali Shah were brought to book, while the rest got off scot-free either due to weak FIR or prosecution. He said that in cases of attacks on transgender persons and women, even police usually did not trust the victims, rather considered them responsible for whatever bad had happened to them.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2020