Kohat warning: Militants rough up transgender guru, spark exodus
By Zahir Bangash
Published: February 17, 2013

http://tribune.com.pk/story/508521/kohat-warning-militants-rough-up-transgender-guru-spark-exodus/

TRIGGER WARNING

KOHAT:
A senior member of the transgender community was tortured and threatened at the hands of militants in the southern Kohat district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.
A police official said that three unidentified attackers entered a market in the Tirah Adda area of the region and barged inside a balakhana (den), where five transgendered persons along with their 'guru' resided. The attackers grabbed the guru, identified as Arif alias Arifa Jan, and beat him up and threatened to kill him if they failed to vacate the area.

The owner of the market, Syed Jamal, said that since no one in the area was willing to provide shelter to the transgendered persons; therefore, he stepped in and accommodated them in his building. He recalled that the assailants sent him a letter demanding that his tenants be thrown out within a week. Jamal claimed that the letter was dispatched by the TTP [ Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ] Darra Adam Khel chapter.

The present-day Pakistani government is going through a puritanical mentality at the moment. It's not surprising actually, but kind of sad. While in some places like Iran and Turkey, people can be transgender, in some countries like Pakistan and Indonesia, it is a hard and discriminated life.