Transgender person shot dead as armed gang open fire in Pakistan
A transgender person has been shot dead after a gang of armed men opened fire on a group of trans people in Karachi, the capital of Pakistan.
Police confirmed that Chanda Sharmeeli was killed in the shooting yesterday.
Officer Aurangzeb Khattak told Al Jazeera: “We are investigating the murder of victim, and from what we can understand so far, is that this was a personal argument gone too far.
“It doesn’t seem like there was a history of animosity.”
The feet of a transgender victim in Pakistan (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images)
The group of transgender people were apparently being harassed by the armed men, who first threw rotten eggs from their car before the shooting, said duty police officer Mohammad Ramzan.
The vehicle was described as a four-wheeled drive with tinted windows and private security guards, according to Geo News
Transgender model Kami Sid added that Sharmeeli had first been forced sit in the alleged assailants’ vehicle and was likely shot for “retaliating”.
Related: Man arrested for killing trans woman in Pakistan
The killing has been registered as a murder case and the authorities are investigating CCTV footage from a bank close to the incident.
Pakistan has granted some citizens gender neutral passports and trans people were included in this year’s census, but members of the community have often been the victims of violent crime there.
In 2016, a transgender woman was shot after refusing to have sex with her attackers following a break-in.
Months later, trans rights activist Didar was shot in the hand in an incident in Peshawar.
Transgender woman Waqar Ali and trans advocate Sheraz Zaka petitioned Lahore High Court for better treatment of members of the transgender community.
And the government’s National Council for Social Welfare called for the rights of transgender people to be re-assessed following the multiple acts violence.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill was introduced to the lower house in Pakistan’s parliament earlier this month.
