Laudable initiative: Transgender persons to help in crackdown against profiteers

Commissioner promises to provide transgender people with due respect.

KARACHI: Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui announced the formation of a special work force of 4,000 transgender persons to launch a crackdown against illegal price hiking which started in Ramzan.

Siddiqui announced this while talking to a delegation of Transgender Welfare Alliance (TWA) in his office on Saturday. The commissioner said that the decision to include transgender people in the drive will have the dual benefit of helping the crackdown and providing a respectful profession for them.

“The special work force will raid bazaars and markets with the help of divisional establishment,” he said.

The commissioner further added that transgender people are working at 973 different traffic signals in the city and the commissioner office will encourage them to play a role in benefitting themselves as well as general society as a whole.

“A total of 17,000 transgender persons live in Sindh and we will try to provide them with the respect they deserve,” he added.

During the meeting, TWA president Bindya Rana highlighted the harassment faced by transgender people and asked the commissioner to form a committee that can help them with their problems. “The proposed committee should ensure that constitutional clauses that violate human rights of transgender people are removed,” Rana added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2014.