Around 100 protesters walked 1,900 miles from the destabilized province of Baluchistan to Islamabad, demanding justice for their loved ones who went missing after they were allegedly abducted by the Pakistani government, the Associated Press reported.
In the past several years, more than 10,000 people have gone missing in the conflict between pro-independence rebels and government forces in the relatively lawless region of Baluchistan.
Since the mid-2000s, tens of thousands of rebels, activists, and civilians have been reported missing from the southwestern Baluchistan province. Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government led a crackdown on insurgents who were fighting for greater autonomy in the region.
Human rights activists and Baluch locals allege that Pakistani forces have abducted and detained their people without giving them trials, and have often killed and dumped their bodies in the desert.
The government has denied these allegations, claiming that many of those missing were criminals in hiding or members of militant groups.