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For the first time in the history of Pakistan, transgender people will be part of a team of boy scouts being sent to Saudi Arabia to serve as volunteers during 2018 Haj pilgrimage, a media report said on Sunday.
"Efforts for sending transgender youth to Saudi Arabia to serve as Khuddam-ul-Hujjaj (volunteers during the annual Haj) are underway," IPC Sindh Boys Scouts Commissioner Atif Amin Husain was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.
Blue Veins, a transgender welfare organisation, is coordinating with the IPC on the matter, the paper said.
He said recently, 40 transgender youth from Sindh were administered oath on joining the Pakistan Boy Scouts Association (PBSA) – a national scouting organisation and one of the largest volunteer forces in the country.
The transgender persons would be part of a team of more than 150 boy scouts, he said, adding that in 2017, over a hundred boy scouts had been sent.
In 2018, the list would include names of transgender youth, he added.
Husain feels that by joining the PBSA, transgender youth would get social acceptance, attain confidence, feel secure and move forward, the paper said.
Blue Veins Programme Coordinator Qamar Naseem said that after the recruitment of 40 transgender people in Sindh, his organisation is planning recruitment processes in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
He termed the recruitment step a positive initiative that would help the transgender community in improving its image at local as well as regional level.
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