LAHORE: Inspector General Police Punjab Dr Usman Anwar said that ‘Protection Centres’ are being established in all the districts of the province to provide legal and social protection to the members of the transgender community. Likewise, DIG IT Ahsan Younis will work as project head for establishing the project and making them functional throughout the province.

Dr Usman Anwar expressed these views while expressing his views in a discussion session titled ‘Protection of Transgender Community’s Rights’ at the Central Police Office on Monday. Organisations working to protect the rights of the transgender community, civil society workers and transgender people participated in the session and expressed their views.

Dr Usman Anwar said that transgender people would be given priority in jobs on special quota in police offices, while no effort will be spared to solve economic exploitation of transgender people. IG Punjab said that establishment of police protection Centres do not require any additional resources but they will be activated in the already existing offices. IG Punjab said that the members of the transgender community will be provided complete awareness and guidance regarding all their problems in these protection centres. He said that self-respect of the transgender community will be ensured and coordination will be improved with other private institutions including TEVTA, Labour Department to make them productive and skilled citizens of the society.

IG Punjab said that the members of the transgender community deserve special attention and treatment so that the sense of deprivation and fear found in them can be removed to the extent possible. Speaking at the event, Prof of Psychology Saad Malik said that the members of the transgender community have to face sexist behaviour firstly in their homes, when parents find out about the gender of their child; they consider it a burden and leave them helpless. This behaviour leads to psychological murder of these children, from which they sink into the mire of deprivation and misery.

Dr Imran, Dr Ayesha and Mishal Shah from Fountain House and Akhuwwat Foundation participated and presented their suggestions for the betterment of the transgender community. Dawood Abdullah, Zaini Chaudhry, Transgender Reem Sharif and AIDS Control Program Dr Abdul Farooq also participated in the event and expressed their views.

ASP Shahr Bano gave a briefing about the program created by Punjab Police to help the transgender community, while DIG Ahsan Younis talked about the establishment and working of the first Protection Centre of Punjab Police established in Rawalpindi.

He said that Protection Centres were started three years ago for the transgender community within the Women’s Police Station of Rawalpindi and now on the direction of IG Punjab Dr Usman Anwar, the scope of this project will be extended to all the districts of the province.

PSL MATCHES SECURITY: IG Punjab has ordered Lahore and Rawalpindi police to take special measures regarding security arrangements for PSL matches in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

In his message, IG Punjab said that PSL is the brand of Pakistani cricket, the peaceful conduct of which is the national responsibility of all of us. Dr Usman Anwar said that PSL security is not only a departmental duty but more than that it is our national obligation which has to be performed with full sense of dutifulness and sincerity.

Meanwhile, Dr Usman Anwar has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death of DIG Investigation Punjab Atif Ikram. He said that Atif Ikram was a very competent, professional and honest officer.