Protesters joined a convoy of buses, trucks and cars, many carrying the black-and-white striped flags of the DPC. They will make stopovers in various cities and towns on the 120-kilometre highway from Quetta to Chaman, where they will arrive on Sunday. “We have started this march to protest against the resumption of Nato supply. We warn our government to get out of the war on terrorism,” DPC chairman Maulana Samiul Haq said as the convoy set off.

“If they think that the United States’ war is only against Afghanistan, they are wrong. The US will target all the Muslim countries after strengthening its control on Afghanistan,” Haq said. “But we won’t allow them to do this, we will fight against them and will fail their plans.”

“We don’t have any plan to go on the crossing point on the border, instead we will stage a rally inside the Chaman town and close to the Afghanistan border,” Abdul Sattar Chishti, a local organiser of the march, told AFP.