Pakistan, a country founded to protect the rights of the Muslim minority in the Indian subcontinent, has over the years become a country where no minority – ethnic, linguistic, gender-based or religious – is safe.
On September 11, four transgender persons were attacked in Peshawar when the accused opened fire on their vehicle. A fact-finding mission led by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) to investigate this attack “concluded that the attack was a result of a personal dispute—one of the victims had refused to allow the accused to conduct a physical relationship with a junior member of her team.”
The HRCP calls upon the police “to arrest the accused as soon as possible and take action according to the law. However, noting the prejudiced attitude of the Peshawar police to the trans community in general, HRCP recommends immediate and effective gender sensitivity training for the police. In addition, any police officers guilty of extorting money from transgender persons should be penalised for doing so.”
Further, HRCP recommended that “the KP provincial cabinet pass legislation to address transgender persons’ welfare as soon as possible, especially given the malicious disinformation campaign being led by religious political parties against the federal Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018. Additionally, the KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission should start registering transgender persons below 18 years of age.”
