The bodies of three transgender individuals were recovered from Karachi’s Memon Goth on Sunday, police and rescue officials said.
Although exact figures are not available due to severe underreporting, human rights groups such as Amnesty International say there has been a concerning rise in violence against trans people in Pakistan.
The bodies were discovered shortly after midnight on Sunday in the Memon Goth area of Karachi.
“We are still in the process of confirming their identities,” city police official Javed Ahmed Abro told AFP, adding, “It is too early to determine the motive behind the killings.”
The Edhi Information Centre said that the bodies were found riddled with bullet holes, adding that they were taken to Jinnah Hospital by Edhi ambulances.
Malir’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr. Abdul Khaliq Pirzada arrived on the scene and issued strict instructions to the concerned deputy superintendent of police and station house officer, issuing immediate orders to arrest the criminals, according to a spokesperson for the Malir District Police.
“On the instructions of SSP Malir, special teams are working to investigate every aspect of the incident on technical grounds,” the spokesperson added.
“The SSP Malir has also formed joint special teams of the police for the early arrest of the accused, which are investigating every aspect of the incident meticulously.”
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has issued orders to the inspector-general of police for the immediate arrest of the killers, according to a notice issued by the CM House today.
“The murderers of transgender persons should be arrested at all costs, and a report should be submitted to me,” the chief minister instructed.
“Transgender persons belong to the oppressed section of society that we all have to respect and honour. The state will not tolerate the killing of any oppressed and innocent citizen,” he added.
A spokesperson added that the chief minister had sought details of the incident.
Karachi’s deputy mayor, Salman Abdullah Murad, contacted the SSP seeking an inquiry report on the murders and demanding the killers’ arrest.
“The murder of three transgender persons in Memon Goth is shocking,” Murad said. “Those involved … should be arrested and given the strictest punishment.”
Transgender women in Pakistan have faced a highly organised digital hate campaign driven by the religious right in recent years, threatening their legal rights as well as their safety.
“When hate speech and campaigns are carried out so openly, outcomes like this are inevitable,” Shahzadi Rai, a trans activist and government-appointed local councillor in Karachi, told AFP.
“Even though the state and police are on our side, killings are still occurring, which indicates that deep-rooted hatred against transgender people persists in our society.”
Activists say there is a pattern of violence against transgender women forced into sex work or who refuse the advances of men.
“We have already pointed it out to the government that this is a coordinated assault on the lives of transgender people,” Mehrub Moiz, a trans activist, told AFP.
The landmark passing of a Transgender Rights Act in 2018 was regarded as highly progressive, lauded around the world for the protections it granted the community.
But religious groups said it was against Islamic law and “a conspiracy to destroy our family system”, and key sections were later revoked by a sharia court.
A research report jointly compiled this year by Blue Veins and the National Commission on Human Rights found that many transgender individuals in Pakistan experience social exclusion, including rejection by families, employment discrimination and violence, pushing them further into vulnerability.
In July, armed motorcyclists killed a transgender person in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Malakand division. The same month, another transgender person was shot dead by unidentified persons in the Tehkal area of Peshawar.
Last year, two transgender persons were stabbed to death in Mardan by assailants, who fled the scene after committing the crime, according to the police.
