Pakistan is a godawful place to be different in any way. Mostly because of the backward culture of Islam that permeates and has ruled Pakistan in one way or another since independence, Pakistan is an unsafe place for free thinkers, secularists, religious minorities, the women demanding human rights, gays and of course those who consider themselves as transgender or transsexual.
Those Pakistanis who want to leave Islam and believe in whatever deity they want, or those who want to reform Islam and civilise it, along with anybody else who thinks differently from the norm, live in fear. These individuals live in fear of social isolation and opprobrium with subsequent career damage and a hurt to social standing at the very least but many Pakistanis who are considered as different, face much worse than that. All too often those who are different or who challenge the Islamic norms of Pakistan face violence and even death.
It was death, most likely at the hands of a believer in Islam, that found two transgenders, who had, as far as I can make out, not harmed anyone but who were radically different in appearance and lifestyle from the Islamic culture that surrounded them. According to a report in the Pakistan Tribune (h/t ROP), the bodies of two transgender individuals had been recovered by police from a house in a town in the Punjab region of the country. It appears that the pair had been dead for about three days and the bodies have now been identified as the transgenders Nadia and Muskan, who originally came from other towns in the Punjab.
The murders of Nadia and Muskan were particularly brutal, even by Pakistani standards. It appears from the initial investigation that the pair were tortured before being shot in the head. The bodies then lay in the house for three days until police were called by neighbours concerned about the foul smell emanating from the building where Nadia and Muskan had been killed. The police are investigating these murders but knowing how sclerotic and corrupt (corrupted by both cash and Islam) the Pakistani police can be, I hold out little hope that the perpetrators of this crime will be swiftly or even ever, brought to justice.
This is not the only attack on a trans person in the Punjab region of Pakistan. Despite the Chief Minister making the right noises about protecting people, including trans ones from violent assault, the attacks on trans people continue. A few months back a Muslim man, named as Abdul Rehman, allegedly had an argument with a transgender woman before throwing acid in her face. This case is still in progress but I doubt that this case will end in any way that could be called satisfactory to the victim. She suffered severe acid burns to her face and chest and is scarred for life. It’s more than likely that this case will fizzle out or if convicted the perpetrator may get a derisory sentence.
Pakistan is truly the place where you don’t want to be different. You don’t want to be trans or Christian, Sikh or Hindu and you can forget about being a Jew in many parts of the Islamic shithole that is Pakistan, it’s too damn dangerous. You can also forget all notions of free speech, freedom of religion and conscience and equality before the law because Islam has created in Pakistan a land where there is no freedom, no equality and certainly no Justice. Pakistan could have been a contender for greatness in the family of nations had it been born as a secular democratic state, but instead it chose Islam and it is Islam that ruined Pakistan and turned it into a shithole of monstrous proportions.
