QUETTA: Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, the Jamaat-i-Islami`s Balochistan emir, has announced a long march from Quetta to Islamabad on July 25, to protest against the federal government for `depriving the people of the province of their due rights`.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, he requested the people of Balochistan to join the march in large numbers to secure their rights.

He accused the federal government of `deliberately marginalising Balochistan` and held the rulers in Islamabad responsible for the province`s deepening crisis.

The JI leader demanded an immediate recovery of all missing persons, reopening of borders with neighbouring countries to allow trade, full representation for Balochistan in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the restoration of political and voting rights for the people of the province.

`Yesterday, we didn`t just offer funeral prayers for a child, Musawir Kakar, but for the very concept of justice in this state,` he said.

`For 70 years, Islamabad`s rulers have tried to silence Balochistan`s people through force rather than granting them their rights.

He criticised the central government for treating Balochistan `like a colony`.