Unidentified assailants opened fire on a posse of transgenders returning from a Peshawar musical evening early on Sunday.
Three transgenders and their driver were injured in the attack, according to an FIR of the incident. The men had fled from the spot, police said.
Dolphin Ayan, Nina and Hussain Khan, the injured, were taken to Lady Reading Hospital following the attack. LRH Spokesperson Muhammad Asim told Naya Daur — The Friday Times said all injured had been discharged barring Nina.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P’s) beleaguered transgender community is routinely subjected to targeted attacks.
Transgender activist Aarzoo Khan said seven individuals from the community had been killed in five months. The activist said the number of those killed province-wide over the last seven years stood at 87. Aarzoo said successive governments had promised the community justice. The pledges, the activist said, remained unfulfilled.
As a beleaguered community, she said, they were sitting ducks for those seeking to kill, harass and usurp their rights. Aarzoo said the kin of abandoned transgenders should be held accountable. This, the activist said, was the need of the hour.
Pakistan is home to over 10,000 transgender individuals, according to the last census conducted.
