Peshawar - One transgender person was killed and another injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen in a suburban area of the provincial capital, police said on Wednesday.
Gul Panra (real name: Shakil) died while her colleague Chahat (Tariq) was injured in the firing in Palosai area. The body of Gul Panra was sent for post-mortem while an FIR was lodged on the report of Chahat, who was admitted in Khyber Teaching Hospital. Police said they were attacked while returning from a musical programme.
Talking to The Nation, executive director of the Transgender Rights Consultants Pakistan Nayab Ali said that 68 persons from her community have been killed in the country in the last three years.
“Last month, two were murdered in Islamabad, which is considered relatively safer area, let alone the cases of KP that witnesses such incidents more,” she added.
“It is a pity that the government can’t protect transgender persons, who number 10,418 in the whole country,” she said.
Meanwhile, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Muhammad Ali Gandapur said he had formed a team, headed by SP-Cantt Hassan Jehangir Watto, to arrest the killers. Several members of the music party were also being grilled in the case till filing of this report.
Twitter witnessed “Justice for Gul Panra!” to be the top trend on Wednesday as hundreds of people condemned the attack and demanded protection of the transgender community.
The government has already approved a law from the parliament, ie Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act-2018, for protection of the community