Four-member police panel to work on transgender safety

High-level committee told to submit its report on August 30

PESHAWAR: Days after the brutal murder of a person who was a transgender, the city’s top cop has formed a high-level committee to probe rising violence against the transgender community.

Capital City Police Officer Qazi Jamil formed a four-member committee, comprising Operations SSP Javed Iqbal, Cantonment SP Waseem Riaz, City SP Shahzada Kukab and Investigation SSP Nisar Khan.

The committee has been tasked with probing violence against the transgender community and submitting a comprehensive report within 10 days

Jamil told The Express Tribune that the police was fully committed to safeguarding the rights of the transgender community and that every possible step was being taken to resolve the issue.

He added that the committee would review the security needs of the transgender community in the city.

The committee will meet with representatives of the community and stakeholders and undertake a survey to identify areas where the community is concentrated in the district.

Furthermore, the committee will identify the problems faced by transgenders and would try to determine workable solutions in this regards as soon as possible.

Last week, a person who was a transgender was killed in the Pishtakhara area on the outskirts of the city and her body was chopped up into pieces by her alleged paramour who was upset after she refused to commit to him.

This resulted in a public outcry across the country as civil society demanded proper protection for the transgender community.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2018.