Khwaja Siras demand safety, dignity
Scores of citizens gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Friday as Khwaja Siras demanded the state and society to recognise their right to life, protection and representation, among other rights.
A charged crowd celebrated the Khwaja Sira community and denounced the frequent violence and marginalisation of the community.
The protest call came by the Gender Interactive Alliance after a beela synidicate stormed a Khwaja Sira’s birthday party in a targeted attack and subjected Dr Moiz and their disciple Ms Firdous to violence. The uninvited perpetrators attempted abduction, gang rape and murder as part of an organised campaign of violence and atrocities beelas routinely commit against Khwaja Sira women, faqeers, transgender women, and effiminate boys and men, according to the GIA.
Beela is a term used for those who perpetrate violence against Khwaja Siras and other trans-feminine bodies for rejecting their coercive sexual behavior. Beelas are “an organised syndicate of criminals who plan, stalk and attack Khwaja Siras, trans-feminine people and young boys,” according to Dr Moiz.
This violence is not new; it was introduced to the subcontinent by the British, who outlawed our beautiful Khwaja Sira culture and tried to completely eradicate the community. This has led to the marginalisation and hostility against the Khwaja Sira community, which frequently manifests in discriminatory attitudes, erasure of the culture and its humanity and violence against the community.
The protestors held banners and shouted slogans celebrating the Khwaja Sira community and denouncing the violence against them.
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“We are proud Pakistanis, and we demand the dismantling of the beela network. We are done being bystanders to our own violence. We demand justice for Moiz and Firdous, as well as all those other innocent victims of beelas’ senseless violence,” read a statement issued by the GIA.
According to the FIR lodged at the relevant police station under Sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code, more than two dozen men reached the venue of the party. Suspicious of the uninvited guests, the chowkidar locked the gate. When Dr Moiz, a guest at the party, arrived they found the mob of beelas there. The perpetrators attacked Dr Moiz and some eight to 12 Beelas attempted to drag Dr Moiz out the car threatening rape.
Some of the perpetrators managed to break into the premises. Amid the commotion and the scuffle with Dr Moiz, gunshot sounds were heard. Subsequently, the police reached the site and a complaint was lodged. For a better understanding of the violence committed that night, the beela culture and history of attacks on Khwaja Sira birthday parties one can see Dr Moiz’s videos on Instagram under the handle ‘unrelentlesslyyours’.
The protestors demanded that the country and its citizens discard colonial imperialist teachings that harmed the native Khwaja Sira community and culture, and actively work to end the prejudice and violence against the community. They demanded their right to dignity, respect, protection, right to life, to affordable healthcare, education and honest employment and inclusive legislation.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2021.