(28 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hingol National Park, Baluchistan – 27 April 2024
1. Various of women in colorful dresses, some of them carrying babies, walking towards mud volcano
Location: Baluchistan, Pakistan
2. Various of pilgrims climbing stairs to reach the mud volcano where they throw coconuts to ritually seek permission of the goddess to visit the temple
3. Various of people throwing coconuts in mud volcano
++NIGHT SHOTS++
4. Kanwal Kumar and Amit Kumar, a childless couple, praying to the goddess for a child
5. Close of incense burning
6. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Kanwal Kumar, Hindu pilgrim:
“I have come to Hinglaj from Sukkur. This is my first ever visit. I am praying for children of my own. I have firm belief that Mata (the goddess) will grant me my wish. She grants everyone’s wishes, so she will grant mine too, I believe in her."
7. Pan right to devotees bowing before the goddess
8. Various of idols wearing golden crowns and decorated with jewelry at the temple
9. People dancing at midnight to celebrate
STORYLINE:
The ascent of steep mud volcanoes marks the beginning of the biggest Hindu pilgrimage festivals in southwestern Pakistan.
People climb hundreds of stairs to reach the volcano’s summit where they toss coconuts and rose petals into the shallow crater.
This ritual signifies the wishing for divine permission to visit Hinglaj Mata, an ancient cave temple that is the focus of their three-day worship.
Hindus believe Hinglaj Mata is one the places where the remains of Sati, the goddess of marital felicity and longevity, fell to earth after she ended her life.
Kanwal Kumar was visiting the temple for the first time with her husband. “I am praying for children of my own. I have firm belief that Mata will grant me my wish,” she said.
Hinglaj Yatra is Pakistan’s largest Hindu festival, which takes place at the Hingol National Park in Baluchistan province.
The religious event began on Friday and ends on Sunday, with organizers saying that more than 100,000 Hindus are expected to participate.
Muslim-majority Pakistan is home to 4.4 million Hindus, just 2.14% of the population, and Hinglaj Mata is one of the few Hindu sites that continues to draw large numbers of pilgrims every year from across the country.
Muslims and Hindus generally live peacefully in Pakistan, from where most of the Hindus migrated to India when it was divided by British colonialists in 1947.
But there have been attacks on Hindu temples in recent years as relations between the two neighboring countries remain tense.
AP video shot by Muhammad Farooq
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