After a video appeared on social media of a man beating a transperson with a belt, the police have arrested five men named Aijaz alias ‘Jajja’, Asad Khan, Ajab Gul Khan, Ansar ‘Phool’, and Kamran, according to the FIR registered. A search is ongoing for others involved in the incident.
According to Riaz who filed the FIR, the men entered the house where the trans-people live, and one of them started beating one of the transgender people, while the rest of the men kept the residents at bay with verbal harassment. The men also stole several thousand rupees and mobile phones from the trans-people. The FIR also states that these same men often visit the house to threaten its residents and demand money.
In the video Aijaz ‘Jaja’ is shown with his foot pressed down on the victim’s neck, as others attempt to keep him from hitting them.
A transperson who claims to have been present at the time of the incident provides a different account of the incident. According to them, the incident took place in Sialkot where the FIR was registered. They claim to have fled to Sialkot from Faisalabad after being beaten and gang-raped.
“I came here to get away from the violence but I have not been able to find peace here [Sialkot],” they said.
They claimed that they were present when the other transperson was brutally beaten up in their own home and alleged that later that night, a number of transpeople were rounded up and taken to a third transperson’s house where they were raped, beaten and humiliated throughout the night.
They pleaded for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to take notice of the alleged violence against transpeople, including transgender people and transsexuals both.
“Are we not human? Why are we treated worse than dogs? These politicians should fear the day a transgender person is born in their family,” they said, lamenting the lack of laws for the protection of transpeople in Pakistan.
“The government even has laws for the protection of dogs and other animals but they have no laws protecting us,” they added.
Station House Officer Sialkot handed the investigation over to Sub-Inspector Mohammad Jameel and has asked him to bring the culprits to justice.
