Marvia Malik, Pakistan's first transgender TV anchor, escapes assassination bid in Lahore

Islamabad: In yet another incident, Pakistan’s first transgender news anchor Marvia Malik survived a gunshot after she was attacked outside her residence in Lahore on Thursday. Malik, 26, narrowly escaped an assassination bid while returning from a pharmacy when two attackers opened fire on her, Dawn reported. Malik reportedly told police that she had been receiving threatening calls for some time for raising the voice for the transgender community in Pakistan and cited her “activism” as the reason behind the attack. Malik, who had moved out of Lahore fearing for her safety, had returned for some days to the city for surgery when the incident happened, the Dawn report added.

News anchor Marvia Malik has just survived a gun attack. This is the direct consequence of the hate speech & incendiary words that the likes of Maria B, Senator Mushtaq or Youth Club use against the trans community. Your words can cost people's lives. Say NO to transphobia pic.twitter.com/PKvDfhaiGg

— Muneeb Qadir (@muneebqadirmmq) February 24, 2023

Malik made history by becoming the first transgender person to become a news anchor in the Islamic Republic in 2018.  “Like other trans people, I did not get any support from my family. On my own, I did some menial jobs and continued my studies. I had always wanted to be a news anchor, and my dream came true when I got selected,” she had said to American broadcaster Voice of America in a telephonic interview. Through her work, she hopes to change the perception about the transgender community. “If given the chance, transgender people are equally capable of doing anything,” she told news agency AP in a past interview. “Our degrees are of no use…even if we seek jobs, we get rejected due to our identity, I want to change this mindset,” she said. The Supreme Court in Pakistan ruled in 2009 that such community could get national identity cards as a “third sex” and last year the government issued its first passport with a transgender category. The transgender community was counted in the national census for the first time last year, recording 10,418 in a population of about 207 million. Although many said this was too low as Charity Trans Action Pakistan estimated there are at least half a million transgender people in the country. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.