Islamabad

The police in Islamabad fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse female-led protesters on Thursday, a media report said.

At least 200 people were arrested, including protest leader Mahrang Baloch, as they entered the capital, BBC reported.

The protesters have been marching across the country for weeks against alleged enforced disappearances of men in the Balochistan province, the report said.

The agitation was sparked by the death of a Baloch man, whose relatives claim that he was shot while in police custody.

The march is "under attack by the Islamabad police", Baloch said on X.

The protesters were prevented from entering the Red Zone, which houses executive, judicial and legislative buildings in Islamabad, by the police bearing batons and wearing protective head gear.

Videos posted on social media show chaotic scenes of officers bundling protesters into police vehicles. Many could be seen shouting and crying, while several were seated on the ground with visible wounds, BBC reported.

So-called enforced disappearances in Balochistan - Pakistan's largest province - refer to undeclared arrests allegedly made by intelligence services, that cannot be traced by courts and are not acknowledged by the government. The alleged victims include political workers, journalists, human rights activists and students.

Such allegations have been made for decades, dating back to the birth of the Balochistan nationalist movement in the early 2000s, BBC reported.

Over the years, many Baloch women have sought justice for their missing loved ones and to bring the issue to global attention.

In the most recent case, Balach Mola Bakhsh, 24, was taken away by counter-terrorism police on October 29. He was held for almost a month before authorities claimed that he had been caught in possession of explosives, BBC reported.