Police establish desks for transgender community

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) police has decided to establish special desks for the transgender community in the police stations in Peshawar. These desks would be manned by transgender persons and in this regard the first-ever desk has been established in Gulbahar police station.

An educated transgender person will be deployed at the desk who would be able to better understand the problems faced by his own community.

For this purpose, K-P police has asked Transgender Association to submit three names of highly educated persons who would be recruited.

“The desk would help in registration of FIRs and assessment of threats to the community,” said SSP Operation Peshawar, Kashif Abassi while talking to The Express Tribune, adding that this was a long lasting demand of the community which is finally being fulfilled.

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“The establishment of the desks has been approved and the posting of the transgender person would be done within three days after receiving names from the association,” he informed.

He added that a committee has been reactivated on the district level for the protection of the community members and this six-member committee would be headed by SSP operation himself. Two representatives of the transgender community would be included in the committee. The meeting of the committee would be held each month, he noted.

For the first time in the history of the district an open darbar was also held for the community where they shared the problems faced by them with police.

The President of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Transgender Association, Arzo told The Express Tribune that since 2013, more than 100 transgender persons have been gunned down brutally without inviting any attention from the quarters concerned.

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She said that violence against the community members was on the rise each passing days and it was a good decision on the part of the Peshawar police to establish special desks for the community members.

She said that these desks should be a permanent feature so that they could actually help solve the problems of her community in a timely manners.

Another transgender person Mahi Gul said that most of the time FIRs are registered but the accused are released by the courts due to lack evidence and faulty investigation.

She said that holding a kuli kachery is a good step and it would help solve the problems faced by the transgender community.