Pak court seeks report on transgender harassment, expulsions from police chief in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Peshawar, Sep 20 (PTI) Peshawar High Court has issued a notice to the provincial police chief against harassment and forced expulsion of transgender persons from various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan.

The bench of two judges issued notice to Inspector General of Police Zulfikar Hameed on Friday and sought a report in a fortnight.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's chief secretary and the IGP, District Police Officers (DPOs) of Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, and Buner districts and the Federal Ministry of Law have been made respondents in the case.

The counsel for the petitioners, the Transgenders Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, complained that police have been instigating protests against transgender persons and even lodged FIRs against them.

He further stated that incidents of violence and killings of transgender persons have increased between 2024 and 2025 even as people from the transgender community are being harassed by the police routinely.

Alleging that transgender persons are being expelled from various districts including Swabi, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Haripur, the counsel argued that under Article 15 of the Constitution, every citizen has the right to reside freely in any part of the country.

He claimed that the police gave a sixty-day deadline to the transgender people to leave a residential colony in Peshawar after the residents complained about certain transgender individuals' alleged involvement in anti-social activities.

Farzana Ali, president of the Transgenders Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said the association is against transgender people, who were involved in anti-social activities. PTI AYZ SKS NPK NPK