On Dalzak Road: Transgenders claim they are being evicted on police pressure

Transgender community have to stop ‘sex work’, police say

PESHAWAR: Around 350 0eople who are transgender living in apartment complexes along Dalazak Road have been asked by their landlords to vacate the following pressure from a ‘senior police officer’ of the locality.

As a result, people who are transgender staged a protest on Thursday.

Around 350 people who are transgender are estimated to rent apartments and rooms in three plazas along Dalazak Road, within the jurisdiction of the Faqirabad police station.

A trans-person told The Express Tribune that they had been recently called by the plaza owners and told that to leave.

When asked the reason why the plaza owners said that they were being pressured by the local station house officer to expel all people who are transgender from the area since they were working as ‘sex workers’ and that such activity will not be tolerated anymore.

“The owner [of a plaza] had been summoned to the police station and was put behind bars. He was only allowed to leave after he promised that he would ‘address’ the issue,” the trans-person said.

When asked whether such orders have been issued, a high-ranking police official told The Express Tribune that this not the case.

“Only those who were engaged as ‘sex workers’ have been asked to stop their activities or leave because local residents were wary of their activities,” the police official said, adding that the SHO of the precinct has been transferred elsewhere.

“We discussed the issue with the transgender community as two committees have been formed by the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Qazi Jamil, including one under Operations-SSP Javed Iqbal and the other under Investigations-SSP Nisar Khan,” he said.

The committee under Operation SSP comprises City SP Shahzada Kukab, Cantt SP Wasim Riaz, people who are transgender Farzana, Arzu Khan and civil society members Taimur Kamal and Qamar Naseem.

The committees have been tasked with identifying problems and suggesting an effective solution to those problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2018.