In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, "Naeem Al-Abudi", the spokesperson of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement called for the formation of a ministry to manage pilgrimages to the holy shrines in the country.
Al-Abudi said that a crowd of about 21 million people attended this year's Arbaeen, of which three million were non-Iraqis, describing the event as the largest human gathering in history.
He said that the huge number of pilgrims has made the Arbaeen pilgrimage an international issue and therefore requires the formation of a special ministry for the administration of pilgrimages to the shrines and the development of programs in that regard.
The figures released by Iraqi religious groups suggest that the number of pilgrims this year has increased by five million compared to last year.
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