Daily Times

Inspector General Police, Punjab, Dr Usman Anwar on Monday said that Punjab police were actively working and trying to protect the rights of all weak and subjugated sections of the society including the transgender community.

He stated while expressing his views in a discussion session titled “Protection of Transgender Community’s Rights” here at the Central Police Office.

Dr Usman Anwar said that “Protection Centers” were being established in all districts of the province to provide legal and social protection to the members of transgender community.

Likewise, DIG IT Ahsan Younis would work as project head for establishing the project and making it functional throughout the province.

The IG Punjab said that in these protection centers, the members of transgender community would be provided with legal assistance, social protection and complete awareness and guidance regarding all their problems.

He said the protection of self-respect of transgender community would be ensured and coordination would be improved with other private institutions including TEVTA, Labor Department to make them productive and skilled citizens of the society.

The IG Punjab said the members of transgender community deserved special attention and treatment so that sense of deprivation and fear found in them could be removed to the extent possible.

Dr Usman Anwar said that transgender people would be given priority in jobs on special quota in police offices, while no effort would be spared to resolve other problems including economic exploitation of transgender people, mutual buying & selling and other social problems.

He said that establishment of police protection centers did not require any additional resources but these would be activated in the already existing offices and a mutual network would be created in these centers with organizations and NGOs working for the transgender community.

Organizations working to protect the rights of transgender community, civil society workers and transgender people participated in the session and expressed their views.

Speaking at the event, Professor of Psychology Saad Malik said that such persons deserved special help and attention and the programme of Punjab police would ensure special assistance to transgender community.

Dr Imran, Dr Ayesha and Mishal Shah from Fountain House and Akhuwat Foundation participated and presented their suggestions for the betterment of transgender community. They said that transgenders suffered from feelings of inferiority and fear throughout their lives.

They need psychological guidelines to remove their fears and their organization was ready to play its role in imparting training to victim support officers.

ASP Shahr Bano gave a briefing about the programme created by Punjab Police to help the transgender community, while DIG Ahsan Younis talked about the establishment and working of the first Protection Center of Punjab Police established in Rawalpindi.

He said that “Protection” centers were started three years ago for the transgender community within the Women’s Police Station of Rawalpindi and now on the direction of IG Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, the scope of this project would be extended to all districts of the province.