September 16, 2025
By Iqra Manzoor
LAHORE
The transgender community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) says a recent move by Swabi elders to expel them from the district is not an isolated incident but part of an intensifying campaign of hate against trans persons across the province.
“This is happening in Mardan, Peshawar, Bannu, Haripur — not just in Swabi,” rights activist Farzana Riaz told Voicepk. “A movement of hatred for our community is growing across KP.”
Riaz, who has been mediating with the Swabi committee formed to oversee the decision, said trans persons are being unfairly scapegoated. “They say we are corrupting youth, but when parents cannot raise their children well, they blame us. This is a rotten idea of a broken society. Nobody has the authority to tell us to vanish from our own streets and homes.”
Police accused of complicity
The activist alleged that the Swabi police have been directly involved in the effort to push trans persons out of the district.
“Crackdowns on our events, arrests, and beatings are common. We have even filed a writ petition against the KP IG because the police have been complicit in attempts to push us out of society altogether,” she said.
Riaz also accused police of beating two trans persons during a recent case in Swabi, where officers arrested around 200 individuals. Images of the injured persons have been shared with Voicepk, underscoring the violent treatment the community faces at the hands of law enforcement.
A pattern of killings across KP
Riaz further pointed to the scale of violence, citing that 195 transgender persons have been killed in KP since 2015, with 11 already murdered in 2025, most of them in Peshawar.
“This reflects not only entrenched violence but also the dangerous thought process that sees us as expendable,” she added.
She also criticized the language often used against the community. “I, till today, cannot understand this term — why would society link the community to ‘spreading vulgarity and obscenity’? Is it the transgender community who is spreading vulgarity, or is the trans community being used and blamed so society can escape from the dirty realities and pin them on us? Would removing the transgenders remove all the vulgarity from society?”
What alternatives has the government provided?
Community members have also questioned what livelihood options are being offered if they are to be forced out of districts like Swabi. Many trans persons earn through dance performances, the very practice that elders now accuse of “corrupting youth.”
In a video message, members of the community warned elders against taking the law into their own hands. While stressing that they respect local norms and traditions, they said circumstances have forced them to raise their voices in self-defense.
“The expulsion will never happen,” they declared, rejecting the committee’s plan. “We respect the law and the Constitution, and if the government provides us jobs, we are ready to stop dancing at functions.”
They further complained that society wrongly blames them for children’s choices to attend performances while turning a blind eye to larger issues such as the sale of drugs and liquor in the district. “None of us are involved in these illegal trades, yet we are singled out,” they said.
Appealing for empathy, they urged elders to view them “from the perspective of humanity” as part of Pakhtun society. Meanwhile, members of the committee said they plan to meet again with district police in the coming days to discuss strategies for removing transgender persons from the district.
Police deny expulsion claims
Voicepk spoke to the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ijaz Khan Abazai, who has been accused of involvement in forcing the transgender community to leave Swabi. He rejected the allegations, explaining that the situation arose after a dispute over a function organized by trans persons.
“The transgenders had arranged a function with loud music and invited many people. The location was not appropriate because it was right in the market, on the rooftop of a plaza. We received complaints and asked the transgenders to stop, but they did not. We had to arrest people because otherwise the locals would have blamed us for any mishap. The locals started protesting in the market and also accused us of involvement with the transgenders,” Abazai said.
He stressed that no decision was made to expel the community from Swabi.
“Transgenders are equal citizens of the country and nobody is expelling them. The police became the mediator and talked to the elders of Swabi. We decided that transgenders can do their events but in locations where other people are not disturbed. The elders agreed. There is no committee decision to expel them, and much fake information has been generated on social media. We will make sure that no transgender gets harmed or deprived of their rights.”
Abazai also welcomed the community’s decision to pursue legal action: “It is good that they have gone to court and used their right. We will be ensuring everyone’s safety and rights.”
Responding to accusations of mistreatment, Abazai rejected claims that transgender persons were subjected to violence.
“No transgender has been beaten,” he said. “We have presented them in the court and if there was something of violence, the judge would have noticed. But no such thing happened. We presented all of them the very next day after the FIR, and two transpersons were included with others in the FIR.”
“They are equal citizens”
Swabi District Police Officer Zia Ud Din Ahmed also denied the allegations, insisting that the police have never supported attempts to drive transgender persons out of the district.
“It is not about transgenders at all. We are just ensuring there is no crime in the society, and whoever commits a crime is answerable to the law, whether male, female, or transgender,” he told Voicepk.
“No one from the police has ever told them to leave. They are equal citizens, and we are here to ensure their protection.”
HRCP condemns the move
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) issued a condemnation on September 14, 2025 after reports emerged that an 11-member committee of elders had declared that all transgender persons would be expelled from Swabi district.
“The HRCP strongly condemns the reported decision by community elders in Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to form a committee aimed at expelling transgender persons from the district. Such actions are unconstitutional, discriminatory and amount to incitement to violence against an already marginalized community,” the HRCP said in a statement on X.
It further added that “no citizen can be deprived of the right to reside, work or earn a livelihood anywhere in Pakistan on the basis of gender identity.”
The human rights body called on the provincial and district authorities to “immediately ensure the safety and dignity of transgender persons in Swabi and uphold their fundamental rights under the Constitution and the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018.”
Social media campaigns fuel hate
Despite these denials, online campaigns continue to target the community. Videos circulating on social media show men and women from different districts praising police raids and demanding the removal of trans persons, branding them the “dirt of society” and accusing them of promoting drugs and immorality.
Parents interviewed in these clips claim their sons spend time and money at transgender performances, blaming the community for “destroying families.”
Rights under threat
For the transgender community, the issue goes beyond Swabi. They argue that attempts to restrict their movement, criminalize their means of livelihood, and label them as a “corrupting influence” are all part of a broader campaign of exclusion.
According to the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2018, transgender citizens have the right to reside, move freely, and earn a livelihood anywhere in Pakistan without discrimination. However, rights groups note that enforcement of these legal protections remains weak. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone, at least 195 transgender persons have been killed since 2015, with 11 murdered so far in 2025, underscoring the gap between constitutional guarantees and the reality on the ground.