A group of unknown assailants opened fire on two trans women in Pakistan leaving one in a critical condition.

The assailants shot the victims known as, Kalajayi and Spoagmay, in the Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Monday night (17 June).

Kalajayi remains in a critical condition after receiving two bullets in the leg and two in the stomach. Kalahayi was shot in the hand and is recovering well, local media reported.

KP is in the Peshawar region in north-western Pakistan and home to the highest number of murders of trans women. Since 2015, 63 trans women have been murdered in KP. By August 2018, the trans community recorded 479 cases of violence against it in the Peshawar region alone.

Advocacy group, Trans Action Pakistan, said it took the women to the Mardan Medical Complex Hospital, but doctors did not see them for hours.

The delay in attending trans patients is not uncommon in Pakistan, especially in KP.

In January, a trans woman died of gunshots wounds after doctors refused to treat her and described her as ‘inhuman’.

‘Shame on this system where the poor and vulnerable have no value,’ Trans Action Pakistan wrote on Facebook.

Last year, the trans community took to the streets to protest the violence and apparent lack of inaction from authorities.

‘This is unacceptable [there have been] 479 cases of violence and 8 Murders of transwomen in KP in 2018 only and the silence of KP Govt [government] is criminal and shameful. We… demand justice,’ Trans Action Pakistan said in a statement last year.