20 February 2005	Sunday	10 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has condemned, what it termed, victimization of political opponents by Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

The party urged human rights bodies and legal fraternity to raise voice against the regime's policies of 'highhandedness' against political opponents.

A PPP spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar, in a statement issued here on Saturday, said the latest case of political victimization was that of Wali Mohammad Rahimoon who resigned from Sindh government service and announced mounting a political challenge to the sitting chief minister of the province.

Mr Rahimoon, who belongs to the electoral constituency of the chief minister, was picked up by the police from his Karachi flat at midnight the other day. Four cases were filed against him and he was detained and tortured at the CIA centre in Karachi, Mr Babar said.

He criticized the arrest and inhuman treatment of Wali Mohammad Rahimoon as a blatant and glaring example of victimization of political opponents. The spokesman recalled that even the colleagues of Arbab Ghulam Rahim in the party and in the provincial government had publicly accused the chief minister of resorting to torture and victimization of his opponents.

He said Mr Rahimoon was being pressurized to change loyalty and desist from challenging the 'autocratic rule' of Arbab Ghulam Rahim. He said strong arm tactics would not deter the democratic forces in the country. The spokesman urged human rights bodies and lawyers community to take note of the incident and raise their voice.