The first caravan of Hindu pilgrims will depart to their religious site of Hinglaj Mata from Karachi on July 22, 2023 as ‘Yatra bus service’ formally gets the nod by Sindh Non-Muslim Welfare Committee.
The Sindh Non-Muslim Welfare Committee that met here at Sindh Assembly building with Sindh Minority Affairs Minister Giyanchand Essarani in the chair also decided to form district-level committees to finalise all arrangements including finalisation of lists of pilgrims from their concerned districts.
Hinglaj Mata also known as Hinglaj Devi, Hingula Devi and Nani Mandir, is a Hindu temple in Hinglaj, a town on the Makran coast in the Lasbela district of Balochistan, and considered one of the most revered religious sites of Hinduism in Pakistan. Hinglaj Yatra is the largest Hindu pilgrimage in Pakistan and thousands of people take part in the Hinglaj Yatra during the spring season when a festival is also organised there.
The maiden caravan of Hinglaj Mata Yatra Bus Service’ would be consisted of seven buses, said a handout issued here. Subsequently, caravans of Hindu pilgrims would also be arranged phase-wise from Hyderabad and other districts of Sindh while additional busses would be operated for Tharparkar and Umerkot districts owing to larger Hindu population in the districts.
The Minority Affairs Minister, speaking at the occasion, said that the Yatra Bus was started on instructions of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to facilitate the Hindu community in pilgrimage of their sacred religious site and it was warmly welcomed by the community across the province. He said that pilgrimage tours, on the pattern of Yatra Bus.