Drug-Free Peshawar Campaign: Transgendered community happy with rehab offer

PESHAWAR: The transgendered community is happy with the offer by the KP government to avail rehabilitation services being offered under the ongoing Drug-Free Peshawar Campaign.

In a press statement issued here on Friday, President Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chapter of TransAction (Provincial Alliance of Transgender Community), Farzana Riaz, termed the offer timely for providing an opportunity to drug-addicted transgendered persons for benefitting from the initiative.

It merits mention here that Provincial Minister for Social Welfare, Syed Qasim Ali Shah and Commissioner Peshawar Division, Riaz Khan Mehsud during a press briefing on Drug-Free Peshawar Campaign agreed with the suggestion of making the initiative fully gender inclusive by providing rehabilitation services to the transgendered community.

They had said the transgendered community could benefit from the rehabilitation services by contacting district administration. Both the minister and commissioner announced the reservation of a separate gender-specific section for the transgendered community in the upcoming phase of drug-free campaign.

President TransAction, Farzana Riaz, said she had requested quarters concerned for the inclusion of the transgendered community in the third phase of the Drug- Free Peshawar

Campaign.

Like other segments of society, transgender community members are also getting drug addicted at a fast pace, Farzana warned. “The community members are inclined towards drug addiction due to psychological stress because of being disowned by family members, societal mistreatment, poverty and deprivation”, explained Farzana.

She also requested ensuring the provision of necessary facilities to transgender during treatment while keeping in view the behavioural response of people with them. Farzana said the KP government had recently announced the reservation of a separate room for transgender community at every district headquarters hospital for encourage them to benefit from the government’s supported public health schemes.