Transgender community demands justice after 215 killings in KP

Hundreds of transgender individuals held a protest rally in front of the Mardan Press Club, in Dera Ghazi Khan, raising their voice to acquire their rights. The protesters chanted powerful slogans against the police, beat their chests in anguish, and demanded immediate justice from the government. The rally was held under the supervision of the President (Farzana) of Transgender Committee in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While addressing the rally, a protester said that thousands of transgender individuals have been killed. Yet the police have neither expressed sympathy nor played any investigative role on behalf of the transgender community. Further, they said we aren’t considered human in human society. We are humans, not animals, but the way we are being treated is inhumane and unbearable.

According to Miss Farzana, in the past ten years, 215 transgender individuals have been murdered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while over 7,000 have been subjected to violence and abuse. Also, she added, “Instead of killing us one by one, the state might as well execute us all together.” We can no longer endure this cruelty. The transgender community accused authorities of regular extortion, saying they are forced to pay money just to exist and that the government has completely failed to protect them. They shared their disappointment, saying that every promise made to the transgender community turned out to be just talk; not a single one has been honored in reality. The protesters warned that if the violence and oppression didn’t stop, they would stage a sit-in outside the Provincial Assembly and the Chief Minister’s House, and expand their protest across the entire province.

Also read: Transgender Asad killed in Tehkal Peshawar