K-P police to establish dedicated help desks for transgender people

Amid growing incidents of violence, killings, and social challenges faced by transgender people in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), the provincial police have decided to establish dedicated desks for the community at police facilitation centres across the province. “Along with women, the elderly and persons with disabilities, providing facilities for transgender people and resolving their issues is also a priority,” Mardan Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Qasim Ali Khan told The Express Tribune. In July, the Peshawar High Court passed directions restraining cops from harassing members of the transgender community and issued notices to the provincial government, police, and other relevant authorities, seeking their replies on a petition alleging illegal evictions and harassment. The province has seen a number of cases of aggression and violence reported against the community. Highlighting the purpose of the initiative, DIG Khan said the initiative would provide members of the marginalised transgender community with a dedicated platform where they can lodge complaints, seek assistance and have their grievances addressed. Read: PHC restrains police from harassing transgenders Speaking about the first such police facilitation desk being established for transgender people, Charsadda District Police Officer (DPO) Rifatullah Khan said transgender people were an “honourable part of society and denial of their basic rights, including registration of First Information Reports (FIRs), or violence against them would not be tolerated”. He vowed that the desk would address the community’s problems and provide them with all-out assistance. The DPO further outlined that the Police Sahulat Markaz (PSM) already had dedicated desks for women, members of minority communities, senior citizens and persons with disabilities, and that a separate desk for transgender people would help redress the grievances of the community. Transgender social activist Rehano welcomed the initiative, describing the establishment of a dedicated desk as a positive development. “This will help ensure respect and dignity for transgender people and recognition of their separate identity,” Rehano told The Express Tribune. Sobia Khan, one of the first transgender jail warders in K-P, said members of the community often faced rejection within their families as well as violence outside their homes. Read more: Transgender community decries job discrimination “Transgender people are often expelled from their homes, and then they also suffer discrimination and violence in the outside world,” she lamented. Speaking on the host of issues faced by the community, Sobia said representatives of the transgender community met with senior police officials following a rise in incidents of violence. The meetings, she said, led to the decision to establish a dedicated transgender desk at police facilitation centres. According to data obtained by The Express Tribune from the K-P Transgender Association, an organisation working for the rights of transgender people, around 170 transgender persons have been killed in the province since 2015. The association also reported more than 700 incidents of violence against transgender people during the same period, which demonstrates an average of 63 incidents of violence per year.