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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Zofeen T Ebrahim

‘She narrowly escaped three bullets’: Pakistan’s trans community shaken by attacks and killings

A group of transgender women wearing headscarves gather on a street
Members of Pakistan’s transgender community stage a peaceful protest to condemn the murder of three trans women on the outskirts of Karachi, 24 September 2025. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

It was past midnight but Zehrish Khanzadi and Bindiya Rana were still up, drinking tea, when the doorbell rang. Within seconds of Rana unlocking the door remotely from the kitchen, three shots rang out. “The men fled and she narrowly escaped all three bullets,” Khanzadi says of her colleague and housemate.

Both trans women work for the Gender Alliance Interactive (GIA), an organisation that advocates for transgender rights, Rapa as its head and Khanzadi as a rights activist.

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