Pakistan: Afghan transgender woman killed in Peshawar over friendship refusal

Islamabad, April 7 (IANS) A transgender woman, identified as Sara, was killed in Peshawar city of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after she refused to have friendship with an individual and allegedly did not pay extortion, local media reported.

The incident took place outside a plaza in Peshawar's Faqirabad, where assailants riding on a motorcycle opened fire at Sara, hitting at her for six to seven times, Pakistan's leading daily 'The Express Tribune' reported.

She was taken to Lady Reading Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.

Sara, an Afghan national, was residing in Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for several years before shifting to Peshawar around five to six years back. Sara's body could not be sent to Afghanistan due to lack of official documents and she was buried Rahman Baba Cemetery under police and transgender community supervision, the newspaper reported.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that Sara was killed over refusing friendship.

The accused, Adam, had a prior friendship with her, and the incident occurred because she chose not to maintain friendships with anyone else," the daily quoted Faqirabad SP Resham Jahangir as saying.

A close associate of the suspect has been arrested and police are working to arrest the main perpetrator. He further mentioned that a financial dispute may also be one of the reason for killing as the accused allegedly spent a large amount of money on Sara and a conflict might have erupted when he asked the money back, leading to gunfire.

Police has lodged an FIR into the case.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shemale Association Farzana said, "It is a tragic incident. Transgender people in the province are being killed regularly while being denied opportunities to participate in functions and events."

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Transgender rights activist with TransAction Alliance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arzu said that 170 transgender individuals have been killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2015, with over 700 injured in shootings and violent attacks and noted that perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

Earlier in January, a report, while highlighting an attack on Bindiya Rana, said that violence against the transgender community has surged in Pakistan.

Rana was attacked at her home while she was having tea with Zehrish Khanzadi, another trans woman who works for the Gender Alliance Interactive (GIA), an organisation that advocates for transgender rights.

"Within seconds of Rana unlocking the door remotely from the kitchen, three shots rang out.

The men fled, and she narrowly escaped all three bullets," Khanzadi was quoted as saying by the leading UK daily, The Guardian.

Rana is the head of GIA, while Khanzadi works as a rights activist.

"By morning, they had filed a formal police complaint against the unknown assailants. As an activist, Khanzadi is acutely aware of the risks that trans communities in Pakistan face, but she never expected to become a victim herself in the safety of her own home in Karachi.

Those who protect others are now under attack," she told the UK newspaper.

The shooting incident on January 19 was the latest in a series of brutal assaults and killings of transgender people in Pakistan. In September, Nadira, a trans woman who had gone to beg at Sea View beach in Karachi, was attacked with a knife for rejecting a man who was approaching her.

"I told him I’m a beggar, not a sex worker, but he wouldn’t listen," Nadira, who is HIV-positive, said.

She managed to protect her bag, which had Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 2,500. However, the attacker stabbed her in the abdomen. Two days later, three trans women were shot at close range on Karachi's outskirts.

"Violence against the transgender community in Pakistan has surged. GIA has documented 55 killings in Sindh province between 2022 and September 2025, including 17 in Karachi. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, elders in several districts have been ordering trans women to leave, accusing them of 'corrupting the youth'.

In September, about 200 people -- including four transgender people -- were arrested at a dance in Swabi," The Guardian report stated.

--IANS

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