Hinglaj Yatra Hindu festival brings mountainous region in Pakistan to life

More than 100,000 Hindu pilgrims are expected to do the three-day pilgrimage at one of the faith’s holiest sites.

The dramatic surroundings of Hingol National Park in Balochistan province are the setting for Pakistan’s largest Hindu celebration, Hinglaj Yatra, which started on Friday and ends on Sunday.

Muslim-majority Pakistan is home to 4.4 million Hindus, just 2.14 percent of the population, and the ancient cave temple of Hinglaj Mata is one of the few Hindu sites in the country that continues to draw large numbers of pilgrims every year.

The journeys begin hundreds of kilometres away, mostly from neighbouring Sindh province. Hundreds of packed buses set off from cities like Hyderabad and Karachi, travelling along the Makran Coastal Highway that hugs Pakistan’s south and southwest.

But there is scant parking and vehicular access to the holy sites, so many pilgrims disembark and complete their travel by walking over parched and rocky terrain, sometimes barefoot and carrying children or luggage.

It’s a few kilometres from the main road to the mud volcano and then, from there, almost 45km (28 miles) to Hinglaj Mata.