Transgenders reject inquiry report

Alisha’s death

PESHAWAR: Members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Trans-Action Alliance (TAA) on Monday rejected the inquiry committee’s report of the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) into the death of Alisha and termed it contrary to the facts and circumstances.

Speaking at a news conference at the Press Club, the TAA President, Farzana, said that the inquiry report finalised by the committee of the provincial government only reflected administrative flaws in the hospital while it had not mentioned the trans-phobic behaviour of the staff, which was their primary concern.

Transgender Alisha, who was shot eight times, succumbed to her wounds at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) during medical treatment.

“Neither a member of the transgender community nor a family member of the deceased Alisha were given representation on the committee formed by the government to probe the cause of her death and negligence on the part of the hospital staff and doctors,” she said.Farzana said that representatives of the transgender community and the victim family were kept in the dark about the constitution of the committee and the subsequent proceedings.

She recalled that no statement of attendants or friends who were with the deceased during her predicament in LRH or after her death was recorded. The terms of reference (ToRs) of the committee, she said, were not relevant to their demand and that they were never consulted on the ToRs.

Farzana said: “The committee looking into the real issue fired irrelevant doctors instead of fixing responsibility and penalising the culprits. As Dr Liaqat was the only doctor in the LRH who helped the transgender community and supported them has been fired, even that his name has not been included in the inquiry committee.”

Flanked by Qamar Naseem, member of the advisory council of the TAA, transgender community, and others, she alleged that the real culprits and those who were responsible for the negligence and the death of Alisha were Chairman LRH, Director Medical LRH, Director Hospital and Dr Shahabuddin but no action was taken against them because of their positions and political affiliations.

The TAA president said the actions taken by the LRH were unacceptable to them and they rejected the ToRs of the report because it didn’t cover the transphobia faced by the patient and the attendance.

“Dr Liaqat who supported us and treated us well was fired without any reason while no legal action was taken against those recommended by the committee,” she deplored.