Five trans women were shot and injured in Mansehra, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), after a group of armed men broke into their home and opened fire.
The wounded transgender persons were taken to the Ayub Medical Complex after the attack. Members of the transgender community have called on the authorities to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Attacks on Khawaja Siras in Pakistan are not uncommon. In October 2021, another transgender person in Mansehra was critically injured after an armed man attacked and attempted to rape them. They were slashed through their neck with a dagger. In 2018, also in Mansehra, a transgender person was attacked and tortured at their home.
In 2016 in Peshawar, a trans woman died after hospital staff delayed her treatment because they couldn’t decide whether to place a transgender patient in the male or female ward.
The transgender community in Pakistan has historically faced stigma, poverty and marginalization, despite various laws which have been passed for the community’s protection. In 2018, parliament enacted the progressive Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2018, which legally ensures equal protection to transgender citizens and safeguards their rights. The law allows people to choose their gender identity on official documents and prohibits discrimination in schools, at work, on public transportation, or in hospitals.
Overcoming these hardships, earlier this year, Dr. Sara Gill became the first transgender doctor in Pakistan.
