Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Farzana, the head of TransAction Alliance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas on Tuesday requested the protection of provincial government as well as asked for establishment of separate residential colonies for the transgender community.

Talking to Daily Times, Farzana said the community was facing different forms of harassment for the past many years. “We are forced to pay extortion money for the last five years as extortionists see us easy prey. Transgender feel insecure while living among common people in residential areas”, she added.

Farzana lamented that the transgender were living under miserable conditions as they were not getting any protection from people with ill intentions towards the community. “It is very easy for anyone with an evil mind to harm our sisters living among other citizens in the city. The recent killing of Alisha has brought many of our problems to public”, she said.

“People do not honour the houses where transgender live. Many invade our privacy without any permission and if we try to disallow them, they force their way into our houses and rooms”, she alleged, adding that police and the government were also not doing much for the protection of the community.

Farzana demanded that the government should provide protection to the transgender community against various crimes committed against them. “Rape, beating, shaving of head and eyebrows are the common ways of harassment with the transgender community in Peshawar. We have shared all of our issues with the police and some of the offenders brought to justice but much more needs to be done to protect us against violence”, she added.

Farzana appreciated the government and police response after the killing of Alisha last week. She also requested the government for provision of separate living areas for her community.

“The KP government should provide a separate residential colony for the transgender community where we could live peacefully. The government should make amendments in the constitution that enable us to get CNIC. The government should also give us jobs as per our quota in all government departments”, she said.