LAHORE: "Ma Chuke Balochani… (We are the sons of the Baloch…)" rendered Farzana Majeed and other participants in the caravan of the Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) at the compound of Dyal Singh Mansion on Thursday.

Amna Masood Janjua, the chairperson of Defence of Human Rights, also joined the chorus "Ma Chuke Lachar Gharibani… (We are defenders of the helpless and the poor)" like HRCP Secretary-General I.A. Rehman, conservationist and painter Dr Ajaz Anwar and several others.

"A mother cannot endure separation of her young son for long. She is not brave enough to see the mutilated body of her son but a sister somehow can muster the courage," Farzana told the media men, civil society activists and students from her home province. Those studying in the educational institutions of Lahore had joined the caravan from Thokar Niaz Baig to the Dyal Singh Mansion on The Mall housing the Punjab Union of Journalists office.

A sister of Zakir Majeed, who had been missing since 2009, Farzana had dreams to study in some top educational institution of Lahore. "Unfortunately, I could not come here as a student but as a protester against state-sponsored terrorism, against the indifference of parliament and superior judiciary towards plight of the 18,000 or so missing persons, against the kill and dump policy," said Farzana who is also secretary of the VBMP.

Thanking the HRCP, civil society and Baloch Ittehad for joining their struggle, VBMP Vice-President Mama Abdul Qadeer Baloch was not optimistic about the fate of the missing persons: "I don't have any hope that those who have picked up our dear ones will deliver justice to us. We just want the world bodies like the United Nations Organisation and the Amnesty International to take notice and action against those responsible for our plight," he said.