KARACHI: A young transgender person was found strangled to death off Superhighway within the remit of the Malir Cantonment police station on Saturday, said police.

They added that the body of the person, aged around 30-35 years, was found in bushes behind the Allah Malik restaurant on Link Road off Superhighway.

The identity of the person could not be ascertained till late in the night as nothing showing his identity was found with the body. The corpse was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

“Apparently, the transgender was strangled to death with his dupatta,” opined Additional Police Surgeon of the JPMC Dr Summaiya Syed.

The dupatta was wrapped around his neck. Besides there were also injury marks on his hands. The doctors also found that the victim was subjected to a criminal assault before being murdered.

Gender Interactive Alliance official Shahzadi Rai said that their community members stayed at the place where the body was found. She spoke with other transgender people in the area who were not familiar with the victim.

It appeared that the person had been kidnapped and killed somewhere and later on his body was thrown there.

Ms Rai said that last year six transgender people were killed in Karachi for host of reasons.

“Every murder has a different story,” opined the GIA official. But she opined that mostly the transgender people were being killed over relationships or property related issues.

Since they were not being owned by their families and they did not have heirs, in certain cases, the transgender persons were killed to usurp their properties.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2022