KARACHI: Haji Hajan, an elderly transgender person, was found dead in Karachi’s Korangi area on Tuesday.
According to the members of the area’s transgender community, the victim’s tortured body was found in the water tank of her home in Bilal Colony, Korangi.
Transgender activist Bindiya Rana from Gender Interactive Alliance (GIA) said that the blood-soaked body was discovered by her chela (apprentice) around 8pm.
“Amma Hajjani’s (as called by her loved ones) relatives found the gates of her house open and her valuables scattered. They were unable to find her as she was missing for two to three hours,” she said, “After searching everywhere, her chela found the body. The body had bruises on the head as if she was hit by an iron.”
She further said, “Incidents of violence and harassment are common in the area and rarely reported to the police. The transgender community are forced to live in this area, mostly home to bachelors from outside of Karachi, because they are not allowed to rent homes elsewhere.”
Hajan, Rana added, lived alone in her rented house and used to survive on donations given by the community. “Amma Hajjani loved animals and kept a lot of goats as pets,” she said. “She accommodated many transgender people at her place, hence, the transgender community of the area is in a state of shock.”
Although Hajan had been living in Karachi for 40 years, she was laid to rest by immediate family members in her ancestral town, Qambar city in rural Sindh, on Wednesday.
While the family has refused to conduct a postmortem or even register an FIR of the incident, transgender activists want to pursue the murder case.
Last year in December, the plight of transgender community was highlighted by activists and the civil society as a protest was organised outside the Karachi Press Club against a rise in incidents of violence against the community.