Heartbreaking Portraits Of Activists Who Walked 1,900 Miles Across Pakistan With Photos Of Their Missing Loved Ones

Around 100 activists from the impoverished province of Baluchistan walked 1,900 miles to Pakistan’s capital to demand justice for relatives who disappeared during the government’s crackdown on insurgents.









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.






Faisal Mahmood / Reuters














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.






Faisal Mahmood / Reuters











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.

















In 2012, the Voice for Baluch Missing Persons organization gave the United Nations a list of 12,000 missing persons in the conflict. Organizers of the protest say the number has risen to 18,000 since then.



People welcome the family members of missing people during the march in Rawalpindi on Feb. 28.


AP Photo/B.K. Bangash




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