Tragedy Strikes: Three Transgender Lives Lost to Violence in Karachi

Wed Oct 22 2025 16:55:50 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

The bodies of three transgender women were discovered in Karachi, highlighting ongoing violence against the transgender community in Pakistan. This incident raises serious concerns about safety and societal discrimination faced by this vulnerable group.

In a distressing incident in Karachi, Pakistan, the bodies of three transgender women were found murdered by unidentified assailants. This tragic event emphasizes the alarming increase in violence against the transgender community, who continue to face severe societal exclusion and discrimination, despite previous legislative attempts to improve their rights.

Police in Pakistan say they have found the bodies of three transgender people on a roadside in the southern city of Karachi, in the latest violence against the community.

They were shot dead by unidentified assailants and their bodies discovered shortly after midnight on Sunday in the Memon Goth area of Karachi, police said.

The bullet-riddled bodies of three transgender women were found on a highway, city police official Javed Ahmed Abro told the AFP news agency.

Authorities are still in the process of confirming their identities and have yet to determine a motive.

Amnesty International says there has been a concerning rise in violence against trans people, also known as Hijras, in Pakistan.

Transgender persons are a vulnerable segment of society, and we must all give them dignity and respect, Sindh's provincial chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said in a statement.

In 2018, Pakistan's Senate voted to support a bill protecting the rights of transgender people, allowing them to determine their own gender identity. However, some key sections were later revoked by a sharia court.

Estimates indicate about half a million transgender citizens in the country face ongoing social exclusion and abuse; a 2023 report in The Lancet journal noted that 90% of transgender individuals in Pakistan have endured physical assaults.