London, March 12 – The pursuit of justice for murdered transgender women remains symbolic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. As the numbers continue to rise, accountability remains absent and the response of authorities is largely due to inaction rather than intervention, a report reveals.
"In the narrow streets of Peshawar, the valleys of Swat, and the market towns stretching from Chitral to Dera Ismail Khan, violence against transgender people has become a grim reality in northwest Pakistan. Each killing follows a familiar pattern – a body found, a brief police statement, fleeting outrage, and then silence. Over the past decade, this cycle has repeated itself with disturbing regularity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where transgender women are being murdered at a scale that human rights defenders describe as unprecedented in the country," Sakariya Kareem wrote in The Asian Lite, a UK-based daily.
"Data from local media and advocacy groups indicates that at least 195 transgender individuals have been killed in the province since 2015. In 2025 alone, more than a dozen brutal attacks were reported within 10 months, including shootings, torture, and sexual violence. These are not isolated incidents but part of a sustained pattern that exposes deep failures in Pakistan's governance, policing, and justice systems," the author further mentioned.
The lack of official statistics has forced transgender people to document their incidents themselves. The leaders of the transgender community said that the actual death toll may be higher since many cases go unreported or are misclassified by police records. Victims are frequently identified by aliases instead of their legal names, complicating investigations and legal proceedings, according to the report.
Official data from the National Database and Registration Authority reveals that around 1,300 transgender persons are registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, community leaders estimate the population to be closer to 75,000. This variation highlights a structural invisibility that goes beyond numbers, as many transgender people remain undocumented, unprotected, and effectively erased from state systems established to ensure their safety.
Recent incidents have highlighted the depth of the crisis. Umair, a 20-year-old transgender person, also known as Shayan, suffered fractures in his jaw and spine after he was reportedly tortured by two men in Swat. Another transgender person was allegedly gang-raped, bound with ropes, and assaulted before a complaint was even registered in Dera Ismail Khan. According to activists, convictions remain non-existent despite nearly 200 killings since 2015.
"Law enforcement responses have drawn sustained criticism. Complaints are often delayed, investigations lack urgency, and families report being pressured into 'compromises' with attackers. In many cases, police treat killings as routine crimes rather than targeted, hate-driven violence, stripping investigations of the context necessary for accountability," Sakariya Kareem wrote in The Asian Lite.
"The International Commission of Jurists, along with local partners, has documented repeated failures to register First Information Reports or pursue cases beyond initial arrests. Even when suspects are detained, prosecutions falter due to weak evidence collection, witness intimidation, and prosecutorial inertia. The result is a justice process that appears structurally incapable—or unwilling—of delivering outcomes," Kareem further stated.
