For many days before her death, Mano, a trans woman from Peshawar, had been fretting about her expenses. Weddings were a major source of income for her and she was worried that, with the onset of Ramazan, she wouldn’t be making any money for about a month.

She had a way out, but it was a difficult one. A man she had previously been romantically involved with had borrowed a sum of over Rs800,000 from her: if she could get it back, she wouldn’t have to worry about money for the foreseeable future.

She decided to give it a try.

Last Friday afternoon, Mano made her way to a printing press in Peshawar’s Mohallah Jangi area, next to the historic Qissa Khwani Bazaar. This press was owned by Sanaullah, her former acquaintance. She approached him and explained her predicament; why she wanted her money back. He turned her down and told her to get lost, but she made it clear she wasn’t going to leave without the money she was owed. Enraged at her persistence, Sanaullah shot her dead. He escaped through the labyrinthine streets of the area.

Mano’s family, which hails from the Batkhela area of Malakand, refused to even accept her body, leaving it to the local transgender community to arrange her last rites. Arzoo Khan, president of the Transgender Association KP, told Dawn that Mano’s family refused to take part in her burial, saying they wanted nothing to do with her either in life or in death.

“We had to arrange people to bathe her body. Our neighbours shouldered her coffin to the graveyard where she was laid to rest.”

Spurned love

Murders of trans persons have occurred across KP with shocking regularity. Though no exact numbers are available, unofficial figures put the toll since 2015 at more than 70.

Mano’s death was the third killing of a trans person within a week. On March 17, a trans woman, Chaand, was shot dead in Mardan while another, Honey, was injured in the same attack. The attack was perpetrated by a suspect identified as Osama, who, according to police, had been angry at Honey for spurning him. Osama had opened fire on Honey but ended up injuring her and killing Chaand. He was later arrested by police.

Earlier, on the night of March 13, five transgender persons were injured when a disgruntled ex-lover of one opened fire at the group. Natasha, who was injured in the attack, told Dawn that her friend Mona had met the group in a bazaar and insisted that they accompany her to her place. She said that when they reached Mona’s residence, the group proceeded upstairs while Natasha stopped to pay the taxi fare. “I heard four to five gunshots and ran upstairs to find four of my friends lying on the floor,” Natasha said. The attacker, who was still inside, opened fire as Natasha tried to run from the scene. She sustained a bullet in her thigh. Sumiro, one of the injured, later succumbed to her injuries.

Since Mano’s murder, two other incidents of targeted violence against trans persons have been reported separately from Mardan and Peshawar. Late on Saturday, unknown motorcyclists opened fire near Mardan Museum on Charsadda Road, killing Coconut and injuring Wara. The two were returning after performing at a function in Charsadda district.

In the provincial capital, the Chamkani police station arrested five suspects for abducting Sheeza as she was returning after performing in a musical event. Police, after receiving information, intercepted the abductors at a checkpoint on Ghaz Chowk, safely recovered Sheeza and arrested the five suspects.

These incidents and many more like them in the past have brought the role of partners, known locally as ‘marakh’, into scrutiny. Taimur Kamal, a transgender rights activist, explained to Dawn that marakh are romantic partners who financially support the trans person. While in some cases families have also murdered their transgender members for so-called ‘honour’, these marakh are responsible for most of the murders of trans women in KP.

“Economic and social vulnerability forces trans persons to approach many people,” Mr Kamal explained. Lacking employment, transgender persons are either forced to become sex workers or dancers at weddings. It is difficult for them to shun advances from men. However, the marakhs many a times become vindictive upon seeing their partners with others, which motivates the murders.

A couple of years back, one such marakh was caught with the dismembered body parts of a trans woman in the Bara Gate area of the provincial capital. The killer later told the police that he had spent huge sums on her and could not bear seeing her with anyone else.

A culture of impunity

According to Mr Kamal, faulty police investigations are the reason most of the murderers eventually walk free. He believed the government needs to amend criminal laws and make the state a party in cases involving the murder of trans persons, as the community is, due to its vulnerability, unable to pursue cases and susceptible to threats and intimidation.

Gul Rehman, a lawyer, concurred with Mr Kamal. He said that in most cases, police fail to lodge proper FIRs. Then there are issues with investigations and collection of evidence. He recalled that in the murder of Alisha, a highly publicised case that had sparked a public outcry in 2016, the killer simply walked away from the Peshawar High Court due to clerical mistakes made by the police.

“Police said they had recovered the weapon on the 29th of the month, while records showed that the weapon was sent to the police forensic lab on the 25th,” he said. Perhaps it was divine retribution that the murderer met his demise six months after his release, the lawyer said.

Arzoo Khan, a trans community representative, said the community is constrained while pursuing murder cases. For example, in many cases, parents compromise with the killer to pocket the diyat settlement. “Those who do not consider us as their own when we are alive should not be allowed to benefit from our death either,” Arzoo complained.

Dr Anoosh Khan, chair of the Gender Studies department at the University of Peshawar, regretted the lack of recognition of deviant sexualities in our culture. “So is the case with transgender persons, unfortunately. Once we consider them human beings, maybe the situation might change.”

She did not sound too optimistic, however. “[After all], we are still striving for [the basic rights of] women,” she wryly said. She believed the murders can only be stopped if the perpetrators are punished.

Peshawar Police Superintendent (SP City) Atiq Shah said that they have set up a committee comprising police officers, representatives of the transgender community and local elders to resolve issues faced by the transgender community. He is a member of the committee.

Mr Shah said that they have also included transgender persons in the police’s Dispute Resolution Committee for the redressal of their problems.

However, he said, considering that the accused in the murder of Mano was someone close to her, police cannot provide armed security to every trans person to prevent a murder from happening again.

Ayesha Gul, AIG Gender Equality with KP Police, told Dawn that the police reaction after attacks on trans persons matters. She said that police were working on the collection of data of attacks on transgender persons.

“Figures for the Swat district show that there were 12 different incidents of violence against transgender persons in that district,” she said. Four of these cases ended in compromise, while in at least 10 of the cases the victim and the suspect had known each other.

“There is so much scrutiny of police from the mainstream as well as social media that there is no question of cops not taking action on such cases,” Ms Gul said.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2022