File photo of Baloch protesters who earlier walked 700 kilometers to Karachi, on their final leg near the Karachi Press Club. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD SAQIB/EXPRESS/FILE
More than two dozen men, women and children had camped in the commercial hub for nearly three weeks after walking 700 kilometres from Quetta.
The latest leg of their journey stretches nearly 750 miles from Karachi, which lies on the Arabian Sea, to the federal capital in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Their hope is to gain public support and pressure the government into freeing relatives who have disappeared allegedly at the hands of security services.
"Our main objective is to secure release of our loved ones but unfortunately we have not received any help from the government so far," Muhammad Qadir Baloch, leader of the march told AFP on Saturday.
Baloch, 70, who also heads a nongovernmental organisation (NGO), Voice of Missing Baloch Persons, said: "Our next destination is Islamabad where we will finalise our future course of action."
Tired of waiting for justice - or even news of the fate of their brothers, sons, and husbands - the men and women undertook the unprecedented march Quetta to Karachi.
Rights groups accuse the military and intelligence agencies of kidnapping and killing suspected Baloch rebels before leaving their bodies by the roadside.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 300 people have suffered this fate - known as "kill and dump" - in Balochistan since January 2011.
The security services deny the allegations and say they are battling a fierce rebellion in the province.
The Supreme Court has also been investigating cases of missing people in Balochistan, issuing warnings to the government to recover these people.
COMMENTS (6)
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hi@ ahmad, every state has right of protection but in legal boundaries, abduction & than throw mutilated bodies is human rights violation. it is time to focus on grievances of these families.
hi @missing, i wish no one is deprived of their relatives be it father, son, or anyone hence if they are conspiring against state then they must be dealt with iron fist every state in the world does this. Pakistan has the right to exercise this for security reasons. no compromise on security. I am an ordinary pakistani.
@Syed baqar ahsan! have u ever lost your father, your son? I hope you won't ever, let alone the pain of never finding the whereabouts of them.
The biggest dis honesty is that no body's tells how these missing person taken huge money to cry out anti-state,these marchers knows all this but since there is a sponsor who is organizing for creating embarrassment for Pakistan and its armed forces in international show off.
I will join this march when it reaches Lahore.