Trans woman shot dead by her 13-year-old brother. Her only ‘crime’ was dancing at a party
Trans rights protest in Pakistan, 2011. (A.MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)
A transgender woman has been shot dead by her 13-year-old brother in the latest episode of violence against the trans community in Pakistan.
Local police official Muhammad Fahim said that the woman was killed on September 10 in Swabi, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-west Pakistan.
According to Fahim, she was returning from performing at a dance party in Rawalpindi, a city south of Islamabad, when her brother, Muhammad Hammad, opened fire and killed her.
Hammad has been arrested and is being detained by police, who have been reported saying both that Hammad claimed he killed his sister because he was angry with her for performing at parties, and that “the incident was not that of a targeted killing”.
The victim’s body has been taken to Bacha Khan Medical Complex, Shahmansoor and there will be an autopsy. Police have promised a full investigation into her death and have offered assurances of safety to other trans women in the region.
Pakistan recognises ‘third gender’ but transgender people face widespread violence.
In Pakistan, transgender people are legally recognised as a third gender, but face widespread violence, abuse and discrimination. Gay sex and same-sex activity are illegal under Pakistani law.
Earlier this year, the government offered trans people access to an existing government health insurance scheme, which was introduced in 2015 to provide health cards for those earning less than $2 a day – although trans people will not face that financial test.
But there’s been an uptick of violence against the trans community in recent months, with another incident in north west Pakistan in the same week the dancer was killed by her brother.
Gul Panra, a trans activist, was shot dead in the north western city of Peshawar on September 9.
She died of her injuries after being shot six times at “point blank” range, while another trans woman, Chahat, was seriously injured in the incident, according to TransAction Pakistan, a group advocating trans rights in the country.
Pakistan’s Transgender Association said that 73 members of the transgender community have been killed in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region since 2015, with hundreds of other in different regions killed or victims of violence.
