Pakistan where being a minority itself gets you in a lot of trouble has again shown its bigot's face. A highly popular Trans activist, Julie Khan has been jailed in Islamabad on the complaints of a rival group. There have been multiple journalists and other activists who have argued that the allegation made in the case is completely false in nature.
What's more shocking is the fact that even Islamabad police which earlier gave her assurance that FIR lodged against her is a fabricated one and will be scrapped soon. But in a dramatic turn of events, the activist has been arrested. Police argued that a transwoman named Lubna filed an FIR against Julie says that she attacked her at her home and took her valuables.
What followed was more appalling as Julie was sent to notorious Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and had been incarcerated with men. Like all jails in Pakistan, Adiala struggles with the problem of intense overcrowding. Originally constructed to accommodate 1,900 inmates, it now holds more than 6,000 inmates which is more than three times that it can cater to its allotted capacity. But overcrowding inside those walls is just one of many problems. The jail is also home to most deadly terrorists in Pakistan.
Awful conditions of Transgender in Pakistan
According to the local group Trans Action, 479 attacks against transgender women were reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018. At least four transgender women were killed there in 2018, and at least 57 have been killed there since 2015. While Pakistan has passed a law that guarantees basic rights for transgender people and forbids employers from discriminating but the legislation has not put an end to the violence against Transgender.
The law grants individuals the freedom to self-identify as male, female, or a gender combination, and to record the identity on all official documents, including National Identification Cards, passports, driver's licenses, and certificates of education. Pakistan's penal code has criminalized sexual acts of the same sex, putting people who have sex with men and transgender women at risk of assault and harassment from the authorities.
