PESHAWAR: Transgender persons have expressed concern about the growing incidents of violence against on their community members and demanded of the government to take tangible steps for their protection.

Transgender Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Arzoo Khan told reporters at the Peshawar Press Club on Monday that the province had recorded five cases of violence against her community during the last 10 days.

She warned that if the culprits were not arrested in three days, transgender persons would stage a protest sit-in at D Chowk in Islamabad.

Arzoo said that two transgender persons died after being injured by attackers in Mansehra and Mardan but the police made no arrest.

She called for the early punishment of the accused and protection of her community. “The government made tall claims about the protection of public life and property but failed to do so,” she said.

Threaten sit-in in Islamabad after three days

The association leader said that many transgender persons had lost life and suffered injuries during the acts of violence in the last few years, but the relevant police didn’t act against the culprits.

She condemned such attacks in the province and said that mostly influential people subjected transgender persons to violence and therefore, the police didn’t act against the former.

Arzoo insisted that the accused held innocent transgender persons hostage for hours, and deprived them of cash, mobile phones and other valuables.

“We held protest demonstrations after every incident of violence against our community members and called for the registration of cases against culprits, but to no avail. In many cases, the criminals get off scot-free,” she said.

The association leader also said transgender persons conveyed their complaints about life threats to the relevant authorities but the people were so influential that no one bothered to take action against them.

She said the province had around 50,000 transgender persons but many of them didn’t disclose their identity due to family restrictions and lack of security.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2022