ISLAMABAD, April 30: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) deputy secretary general, Senator Raza Rabbani, has strongly condemned baton charging of students in Karachi, who had been holding demonstrations for their educational rights.

The PPP leader, in a statement, said duplicity of the regime was evident from the fact that on television and in newspapers, Gen Pervez Musharraf was being portrayed as someone who wanted the children to be educated, but in reality they were being tortured for seeking better education and rewards for their qualifications.

Mr Rabbani called for immediate release of arrested students and asked the regime to read the writings on walls that its days were numbered and sooner than later a democratic government under the PPP would be in place, which would serve the students, lecturers, labourers, farmers, traders, and every citizen of Pakistan. He said the party would also raise the issue in the forthcoming session of the Senate.