Pakistan officials, the law group condemns the killing of 3 transgender women

Police said on Monday that the gunmen shot three sexually transgender women on the outskirts of Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, before fleeing the scene.

The bodies of the victims were found on the side of the road on Sunday. Javid Abro, a senior police official, said the three were shot dead at a close distance and the victims were later buried in a local cemetery.

Abro said that the motivation was not immediately clear and the search was ongoing to track and arrest the killers.

The Prime Minister of Al -Sanad, Murad Ali Shah condemned the killings and ordered the investigation.

He said: “The infiltrators are an oppressed section of society,” and it undertakes that those behind the attack will be arrested.

Members of the transgender community organized a protest on Sunday outside a wing hospital in Karachi, where the bodies were taken to dissect the bodies. They warned of demonstrations at the country level if the killers were not brought to justice.

On Monday, a activist in the field of transgender people, Pennia Rana, told the Associated Press on Monday that violence against society “is not new and that it is deeply guaranteed in our society.”

“If the police fail to identify the killers, we will announce a protest across the country,” she said.

Discrimination despite the court recognition

The sexual interactive alliance, a local rights group, has identified the victims as residents of Karachi who got their livelihoods through begging. The group also referred to a separate knife attack two days ago, which was crucial to another woman from a transgender in the beach in Karachi.

The coalition said: “These tragedies, which go back, show that society is systematically targeted. This is not only related to individual killing, but is an attempt to intimidate an entire society and its silence,” calling for immediate arrests, which is a protection unit dedicated to sexual transgender personnel and increasing civil society.

Pakistan transfers in Pakistan, an Islamic majority nation, is often exposed to abuse. They are also among the victims of the so -called killing of honor that relatives do to punish the sexual abuses.

The Supreme Court in Pakistan has recognized the transgender personnel as a third gender, allowing them to legal protection in theory, but discrimination is still rampant. In 2018, the Pakistan Parliament issued a law to secure the basic rights of transgender individuals, including gender legal recognition, but activists say social stigma and violence still exists.