EPC For Elderly & Below 18 Years Trans Built In Peshawar

News Desk

Peshawar: An exclusive protection centre has been established in Peshawar to provide shelter and free food to older people and persons under the age of 18 from the transgender community.

District Officer Noor Muhammad said, “The protection shelter has been set up by the Social Welfare Department in pursuance of the directives of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) issued on December 12, 2022.”

It has been established at a Panah Gah (Shelter Home) on Pajaggi Road where selected transgenders would be provided stay and food free of cost. This centre is initially comprised of two rooms with a staying capacity of five beds in each room, he added.

DO Noor informed that the Federal Shariat Court, during the hearing of a petition filed by a member of the transgender community, had ordered the establishment of exclusive protection centres at the provincial level for intersex children who have been abandoned by their families and elderly members of the same community who have a difficult time finding any form of employment in order to survive.

Provincial Alliance for Transgender Community (Trans Action) President Farzana Riaz said the SWD has requested her to identify the most deserving transgenders for availing of the facility.

The DO added that the transgender population is now being given the option of receiving psychological counselling for youngsters and senior citizens.

“We also have a child protection unit in Peshawar that offers expert psychologists’ counselling services and the transgender community may use the facility as needed,” DO Noor further added.

The protection centre will soon begin operations with the registration of deserving members of the community.

TransAction President praised the initiative and said that it will benefit the most disadvantaged and disenfranchised transgender group.

The two-room facility is not sufficient keeping in mind the number of transgender people in the province; however, it is a welcoming start and hopefully would expand for the help of more deserving community members in the near future, Farzana mentioned in her talk.