A Pakistani transgender activist succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday after being shot eight times in Peshawar. Alesha was taken to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where she was denied critical care because the hospital couldn’t decide whether to shift her to the male or female ward.
Alesha, who identified as female was shot on Sunday night during an altercation between a group of men and several members of the trans community. Transgender Pakistanis are not strangers to violence and extortion and receive little protection from authorities.
Qamar Naseem, a coordinator for Blue Veins, a transgender rights group, told the Express Tribune that doctors “failed to provide her with urgent care or necessary facilities as she was transgender”.
We urged LRH authorities to move Alesha to the ICU due to the nature of her injuries but they refused.Qamar Naseem
A hospital spokesman said that the hospital “was only acting as per the complaints of those admitted”.
Alesha worked as a coordinator for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Trans Action Alliance, an advocacy organisation in Pakistan’s northwestern province, and was the fifth member of the group to be attacked this year.
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