Comedian and drag artist Moiz has come forward to share an incident of organised violence against him by a group of people, known as ‘Beelas’. A First Information Report (FIR) has also been registered by Moiz. The number of the FIR is 455/2021.
Moiz, while narrating the incident in a video message on Instagram, said that on the night of September 19, close to 2am, he and his friends went to a birthday celebration of a friend, where a group of ‘Beelas’ were already present. According to Moiz , the ‘Beelas’ wanted to rape the ‘londay‘ (khwaja sira/effeminate boys) present there.
As per Moiz’s Instagram post, “Beelas are an organised syndicate in Pakistan with dedicated WhatsApp groups, formal group networks, and open proud declaration that they are a group of men who terrorize and enact violence on khwaja siras, effeminate boys, and use gang rape as a method of enjoying themselves. They have their own names for the many other violent crimes that they do to khwaja sira bodies.”
He continued by saying it is time to shift the lens on ‘Beelas’ so they can be arrested. He continued by narrating the September 19 incident saying that they [Beelas] attacked his car and they kept asking [my friend] to hand him over to them. “One of them opened the door of the car and punched me in the face,” adding that they wanted to pull Moiz out of the car. Moiz said then he fought back. The group was armed, he said.
Moiz also said that his life was saved by an ‘angel’, his childhood best friend who he called right before they [Beelas] snatched his phone.
“I fought back for a good ten minutes and made their attempt to extract me from my car absolutely impossible,” Moiz’s Instagram caption read. Moiz told his friend on a very brief call, “400 people are going to gang rape me,” and sent his location to him.
A protest has been organised on Friday, at Karachi Press Club after 3:30pm, in solidarity with all the past and ongoing survivors and victims of Beelas’ violence against khwaja siras, trans-feminine bodies, and young boys.
Social media users are coming forward to share their own stories and to show the support to Moiz and the transgender community of Pakistan:
