The Path

---

Maya and Mehek friendship through their common gender identities

the beginning of 2019, Maya was on the Run - But happy.

she was of Nowshera, in the North of Pakistan, where the society is conservative and tolerance for non-conformity to be running thin. And Maya didn't match. She was transgender, born male But identifying and living as a woman.

they had escaped abuse at home Three Times , Run Far Away , every time. She had found Happiness and a new community, But then took the chance of approaching The House of her family in Peshawar.

"I wish we had know better," says her childhood friend Mehek Khan.

Because Maya 's family tracks them down and within a month of her move, she was dead.

police suspect that her brother and uncle had killed, But they have all denied involvement.

rights activists say that The Police have left many gaps in the case, what justice can never be achieved means, for the Maya , as for so many of Pakistan's murdered transgender women.

'We were attracted to each other' In Maya ' s home state of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , transgender women tend to identify as a Third Gender - they often refer to themselves as "she-males".

Life in the rural Nowshera, A series of court was an unforgiving place for two young trans women judge since 2009, have recognized a Third Gender in the law, But the implementation is problematic. Social, transgender people are still treated as lesser beings, would have no claim to privacy or the personal, or the security.

Maya 's story highlights The Dark side of these realities.

"We were drawn to each other from the beginning," says Mehek. "It may be because we were always aware of our shared gender. "

Maya and Mehek grew up across the street from each other in the rural outskirts of Nowshera. Both were born male But always felt female, says Mehek. You would sometimes on a dupatta (head scarf), or paint your nails.

Mehek's father and uncle as a disgrace.

"they would often hit me, lock me in a Room . But I couldn't stop to repeat it," says Mehek. Maya stood in front of the same treatment by their male relatives when they experimented with dressing as a woman.

Mehek escaped her house at first, everything was more difficult, as you are to your teenager, says Mehek, if "she-males begin feeling that they are what people think you are".

"If that happens, living with The Family is always difficult, and waiting for an opportunity to take a step. "

The two-fantasised for years about the way and always in a good dancer, And Then , in 2016, Mehek finally managed to do this. They took refuge in Peshawar, where a friend found work in a textile factory.

It was a year before you heard of them Maya , the called and said she had planned to escape.

"I was so happy that I cried," says Mehek.

A guru's home provides safety, community and access to employment for isolated trans-women Maya and Mehek together moved to Kamra in the Northern highlands of the province of Punjab and in the care of a guru.

Pushed to the margins of society, transgender women in Pakistan tend to cluster in small communities organized to an older trans-woman, a guru, who acts as their guardian and protector in exchange for a cut of their profits.

The Guru will also teach you How To dress up and lead, so you have access to one of The Few sources of income for you - weddings-Dancers .

Betrayed and dragged homeThe year, the two meet to spend their dream of dancing "was The Best year of our lives," says Mehek.

Mehek, said of the months that you lived with Nina (on the left) were not the happiest of your Life With a transgender dancer at weddings is just a cheaper alternative, But also spare parts the host, the censorship that you would expect from community elders, if you are invited to cisgender women. For Dancers , there is a way to avoid, to beg, or give in to the sex workers.

"We went all over Pothowar region, dancing at weddings and other parties, and make more money than we had previously seen. "

But it was a short time of Happiness - they were both ultimately betrayed by the friends that tricked you in the way of their families. Both were sent home.

Both women had cut their hair and tells Mehek, were tortured. Maya was severely beaten, she says, and her brother is chained to a Bed In The Basement of her house for several days.

Undeterred, in March, they both have to escape again, finally landing in Peshawar, where the trend for "Tommy Dancers " - transwomen Dancers were able to with a less feminine look - you still get to work the wedding, in spite of their shorn heads.

Naina Khan was to be their new guru. She described how Maya seemed to be billing, as well as in Peshawar.

"she was very relaxed and fat, almost too sure of yourself," she says.

But then on Saturday, "the doorbell rang and an old friend went with a phone in hand," she says, sitting in the nine-Room apartment, where you is home to nearly 20 young people chailas, or younger.

to meet As a dancer, the Two Women finally your childhood dream, Maya was. lying in a cradle in the lounge, she says, talking on the phone The visitors sat in a different children's bed and looked at his cell phone, sometimes you steal a glance at Maya .

"I suppose he had Maya 's picture in his phone and wanted to confirm their presence," Naina says.

The Visitor left abruptly. Minutes later, it rang again, and the three men went in.

"I saw Maya rush. She quickly removed her earrings and nose-pin, turned off your phone, put everything in a bag and gave it to me. She was very scared. She Said her brother and uncle had come to get them. "

A tall, slender young man breaks into The Room , went up to Maya and met her.

Naina and their chailas rushed in. The Man pulled out a gun, But Nina refused to be intimidated and, with The Help of the other, was able to push all three men out of The Apartment .

Naina suspected, The Family had sent someone to confirm Maya was living in The House , But within half an hour, a police party arrived, and The Officer ordered Maya to go with him. If Naina intervened, he said, had Maya of stolen gold from their home.

to the left, without option, Naina , and their chailas decided who would accompany them to the nearby police station.

in the next couple of hours, they raised a ruckus, not knowing exacting why Maya was there, as you don't want to Go Home . She was grown up, She Said , and could not be forced to do something she wanted.

The Head of The Police station assured her that she just wanted Maya to have a word with her father, who was on the way from Nowshera, and after that, Maya would be free to go wherever you wanted to.

Naina and their followers, yet for A Wedding date, But if you went back to The Police station in the Early Hours of the morning, Maya is there.

A law that can clearly happen murderer what is not Maya , the night is clear, and maybe never.

A top Police Officer of the city of Peshawar, Zahoor Afridi, told the BBC that Maya had given her consent to go with her, father, uncle and other male relatives. But a company is shown, the BBC is through the Hashtnagri police written on plain paper and signed only by her father and uncle, not Maya .

Taimur Kamal says, a gap that could allow the killer to wipe out the Mayan family studies of the Nowshera police revealed that The Car had with Maya , stopped briefly at a gas station owned by her uncle. There, Maya , The Car in which her uncle and brother were travelling in was moved. The rest of The Family was asked to Go Home .

the next morning, Maya was found dead, lying in a pool of blood in The Woods in the vicinity of Nowshera.

Nearly a dozen people have been arrested so far, including Maya 's father, brother, uncle and other members of the extended family. In statements before the court, they all denied, killed Maya . All were released on bail.

Taimur Kamal, a transgender activist for the rights, says the Circumstantial Evidence is strong, however, The Police "were reluctant to talk, some of the relevant clauses of the case that make it difficult for the offender to avoid the penalty."

for years in Pakistan, The Heirs of the murdered person had The Right to pardon the killer in exchange for Blood Money , an old Arab custom.

But , in the year 2016, in order to curb so-called honor killings and families with murder get away and walk away with money - Parliament abolished this right in all cases, classified as "crimes in the name of honour".

"Maya is killing clearly an honor," says Taimur Kamal. "But The Police have not included the honor clause in the case that allows you to forgive the door open for Maya 's mother or sister, her killer. "

A body taken But paid forPeshawar-based Transgender Rights group transaction, at least 70 trans women have been murdered, to keep in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone, since 2015, when The Group began, data on the crimes against the community.

transgender people, lgbt, pakistan

Source of news: bbc.com