In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district an 11-member committee of elders had announced that all transgender persons would be expelled from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district.
As a response to this discrimination, The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) issued a condemnation on Sunday.
“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 marginalised community,” the HRCP said in a statement on social media.
It 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”.
