Pakistan: Transgender entertainers face extortion
Many transgender people in Pakistan's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province earn money by dancing at private parties and events. However, this is a risky way to earn a living.
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00:00Dancing could get them shot, but it's their only means of earning a living.
00:08Dolphin and Dolly are rehearsing before tonight's event.
00:11Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the first province in Pakistan to provide identity documents for transgender people.
00:18But extortion and violence against their community has also risen sharply.
00:23Both Dolphin and Dolly have paid large sums of money after being threatened.
00:28A lot of people in KBK have been threatened.
00:32I have been threatened with 9-10 lakh rupees.
00:35I still have the proofs and messages.
00:41I even have the proofs of my video being viral.
00:45These are the things we are all worried about.
00:48We go to the events and people who invite us.
00:52When the event is over, we make a video and upload it on gunfight.
00:57We are harassed by those videos.
01:01I have given the money to 2-3 people.
01:06I have given 9 lakh rupees to one and 6 lakh rupees to the other.
01:10They have shared my video even though I gave them money.
01:13That video has even reached my home.
01:15My family says that I should not be at home.
01:17The doors to my home are closed forever because my parents don't let me go.
01:20Dolly and Dolphin continue to work as entertainers.
01:24But Naina can no longer work after she was shot for not paying extortion money.
01:30I was shot seven times because I didn't give the money.
01:35That was my last day in this field.
01:41They ruined my life.
01:43I was bedridden for two and a half years.
01:45There was a lot of difference in my walking.
01:48I put soil under my shoes because there was a difference of 4 cm between my feet.
01:54I was in a lot of pain because of this.
01:56To address this growing problem, the transgender community recently protested against the police's failure to provide protection from extortionists.
02:06We don't tolerate any kind of discrimination.
02:13We don't let anyone do it.
02:15But if a police officer is involved in a crime, our internal accountability is equal to the law.
02:24If a police officer is involved in a crime, the police have nothing to do with it.
02:33According to Trans Alliance, a local rights advocacy group,
02:36in the last decade alone, 130 transgender people have been killed
02:41and thousands have been injured in violent incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.