Transgender activist's house set on fire in K-P

Arzu -- a govt employee -- had been receiving threatening phone calls before incident

A transgender came under attack on Sunday night as unidentified persons attempted to set her house on fire.

According to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Trans Action Alliance, Arzu, who is a government employee and a board member of Transgender Alliance, had been receiving threatening phone calls which she had reported to the police.



The suspects were demanding Rs1 million in the form of extortion money, following which they were arrested. However, the police refused to lodge an FIR and granted them bail.

"The accused gave death threats to Arzu in front of SHO Tahseel Police Station, however the police refused to take action," Chairperson  Trans Action Alliance Qamar Naseem told The Express Tribune.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

In May, the association's coordinator Alesha succumbed to her injuries after she was shot six times in Peshawar. Alesha was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar in critical condition.

However, LRH authorities could not provide her urgent care as they kept her waiting for over an hour while deciding whether to shift her in the male or female ward.

Qamar Naseem, coordinator of Blue Veins programme, said LRH authorities are to blame for Alesha’s death as they “failed to provide her with urgent care or necessary facilities as she was transgender.”



The association claimed an organised criminal gang that extorts money from the transgender community is behind the attack on Alesha. The alliance also claimed that transgender persons are being forced by the gang into making porn videos.

Separately, last month, a transgender person was critically injured after being shot multiple times for allegedly resisting sexual advances of a group of armed men who barged in to her house in Mansehra.

The development came weeks after a transgender activist succumbed to her injuries after being shot multiple times in K-P’s provincial capital Peshawar and denied treatment at the hospital.