Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed its concern over rise in the incidents of forced disappearances across the country and blamed secret agencies for these illegal arrests and midnight abductions.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, the party sought from the regime an answer of these "brutalities".
"It is shameful that no answers are given to constant demands by the opposition and human rights groups representing the protesting families of victims", the statement said.
Condemning the recent mass arrest of Baloch youths, PPP Central Information Secretary Sherry Rehman demanded an immediate inquiry into the lists of people released recently.
"It is a sad indictment of our times that on this day and age, Pakistan has regressed into a state where over 242 abducted persons remain unaccounted for with no record of trial, justice, imprisonment or even death to console the families of these silent victims of state terror," she added.
Under the law, anyone arrested and accused of a crime must be produced before a court of law and a judicial magistrate 24 hours after the arrest, but under this regime it seems that the rights of citizens no longer matter, Rehman blamed.
The regime's open contempt for the law and silence in the face of accusations and evidence that it had abducted own citizens without due process was a grim reminder of the dictatorship's systematic oppression of political dissidents, she added.
BB WILL RETURN:
Meanwhile, Pakistan People's Party has said that those who think that Benazir Bhutto will stay out of the country during 2007 elections are living in a fool's paradise.
In a statement on Sunday he said, "Benazir's presence is vital for the nation. She is capable to fight against poverty, inflation and unemployment and resolve the problems of the people."
He was commenting on the statement of a federal minister predicting that Benazir Bhutto will stay out and the PPP-P will participate in election 2007 as pro-Musharraf party.
The spokesperson rejected the statement as "out of touch with ground realities on PPP planning". He said that the PPP would contest elections under the leadership of Benazir Bhutto no matter what the regime says or does.
"If people of Pakistan wish to elect her, no one can stop Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto from becoming the Prime Minister for the third time as well".
He said that elections would be a farce if the people of Pakistan were denied their democratic right to choose their representatives without which the problems of the people could not be solved.