Pakistan stops 190 Hindus from Sindh province from travelling to India

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have stopped 190 Hindus living in the Sindh province from travelling to India after they failed to provide a satisfactory response about the purpose of their visit to the neighbouring country, according to a media report.

Various Hindu families, including children and women, from the interior parts of Sindh, reached the Wagah border on Tuesday for going to India on the visas for religious pilgrimage, The Express Tribune reported.

However, Pakistan immigration authorities did not clear them because they could not give a proper reason as to why they wanted to go to India, the newspaper reported.

Quoting sources, the report said, the travelling Hindu families usually took visas for a religious pilgrimage and then they stay in India for a long time.

Currently, a large number of Pakistani Hindus were living as nomads in states of Rajasthan and Delhi, the report added.

Pakistan is home to 22,10,566 people from the minority Hindu community, comprising only 1.18 per cent of the country's total registered population of 18,68,90,601, according to a report by the Centre for Peace and Justice Pakistan.

Minorities, including the Hindu population, in Pakistan, are poor and have negligible representation in the legislative system of the country.

The majority of Pakistan's Hindu population is settled in Sindh province where they share culture, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They often complain of harassment by extremists.