Transgender model and social media influencer Dolphin Ayan, also known as Dolphin Ayan Ali, was stripped naked and recorded at gunpoint, a leaked video showed Thursday morning.
As messages of support pour in for Ayan, police have reportedly registered a case against the accused.
Meanwhile, Ayan has urged members of the community to not share the leaked video. “The more we share such videos, the more we harm ourselves. We should not circulate anyone’s videos, especially not those from within our community,” she said in a viral audio message doing the rounds on social media.
Reacting to the incident,
Trans Action Alliance President Farzana Riaz said that the video was not a new one and had been recorded to blackmail Ayan. “This video is not new. It was recorded to blackmail Ayan for money.
She has already paid substantial extortion fees to keep it hidden,” she told a private media outlet.
Farzana noted that similar videos of other transgender individuals in Peshawar were often used as leverage for extortion and coercion.
She also pointed out that there had been no police action. “Despite the registration of FIRs, the offenders operate without facing consequences.”
She further said that not even a single official had condemned these attacks, which highlights the authorities’ indifference towards issues facing the transgender community.
Transgender activist and central secretary of the Awami National Party, Dr Mehrub Awan, also expressed her frustration and concern on X (formerly Twitter), stating, “A video of Dolphin Ayan, the most successful trans dancer from Peshawar, is doing the rounds where she is being stripped naked on camera and threatened with a gun, and being forced to dance. We have literally written papers, done podcasts, book chapters, and spoken to media and officials about ‘Beela violence’ and how organised it is.”
“We ourselves have presented data and identified hotspots – Mardan and Peshawar – and profiled the criminals involved. We have done everything that we, as a broken and battered community, could do,” she added.
“When does this end? What else is expected from a community literally on the receiving end of genocidal murders in Pakhtunkhwa to do?”
“The public of Pakhtunkhwa deserves a formal statement on the ongoing mass murder, exploitation and violence against transgender persons in the province. This deserves a serious political commitment and follow through,” Mehrub said.
While Ayan’s leaked video has left social media users outraged, the violent incident isn’t the first of its kind. According to data from Trans Action Alliance, KP alone has seen the murder of 145 transgender individuals from 2015 to November 2024.
