Around 3,000 pilgrims are stranded for the last three days at the Iran-Pakistan border due to lack of security needed to escort their buses to Quetta.

Pilgrims returning from Iran and Iraq are usually escorted by security forces due to past attacks and existing threats by sectarian outfits on buses carrying pilgrims.

The pilgrims were returning home from Iraq, where they had gone to commemorate Ashura.

Majority of those stranded include women and children, with around 1,200 men amongst them.

"We are not being provided clean drinking water or food by the authorities. Food supplies carried by the pilgrims have finished," said Mohammad Sadiq, a stranded pilgrim.

Women and children are spending nights under the cold sky, with not much heed paid by security officials, he added.

The people stranded on the border also lamented a lack of basic amenities.

Pilgrims are required to pay a per-day fee for staying at the Pakistan House, but some stranded pilgrims alleged that the authorities are not escorting them as they want to charge extra money.

"Pilgrims are stopped at the Pakistan House due to security reasons and will be escorted to Quetta as soon as possible,” said a security official on condition of anonymity.

The stranded pilgrims have demanded from the government for aid, and have requested earliest possible escort to the provincial capital.