Transgender community to get separate graveyard in Peshawar

PESHAWAR - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has decided to establish a separate graveyard for transgender persons in Peshawar.

Representatives of transgender community and activists held a meeting with Speaker KP Assembly Mushtaq Ghani here the other day and informed him about the difficulties related to the burial of their community members in the city. They said people often do not allow the bodies of transgender persons to be buried in their graveyards.

After hearing the grievances, the speaker sought suggestions from the Auqaf Department to allot four-kanal land for a separate graveyard for the transgender persons.

The meeting came after a transgender named Deewani died of AIDS and prayer leaders of the city refused to lead the funeral prayers for the deceased.

The provincial assembly speaker said that a separate prayer leader will be deputed to lead the funeral prayers of the transgender people.

Transgender rights activist Qamar  Naseem talking to Daily Pakistan said that the suggestion for the separate graveyard was not put forward by the transgender people, adding that it was proposed by the speaker and the community accepted it.

Responding to a question, he said that issues pertaining to burial are being faced by common people and not only the transgender community as there is no space in the state-owned graveyards. "There are private graveyards owned by people and they do no allow anyone's body to be buried without fee that is around Rs18,000," he said.

Naseem said that a final decision in this regard will be taken in next meeting scheduled for next week when auqaf will submit its suggestions.

During the meeting with transgenders, Speaker Ghani also announced that separate graveyards for transgender community will also be built in Nowshera and other cities of KP.