February 11, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 22, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 10: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has submitted a call attention notice and an adjournment motion to the National Assembly Secretariat on the issue of mysterious disappearances of citizens whose whereabouts and conditions remain unknown, including their family members.

According to a PPP spokesman, the call attention notice has been submitted by Sherry Rehman, Syed Naveed Qamar, Syed Nayyar Bokhari and Raja Pervez Ashraf.

The same four PPP MNAs have also moved an adjournment motion under Rule 92 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 1992, seeking a discussion on the issue of missing persons in the light of the recent report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

“The government has crossed all limits to crush opposition and resistance movements against it. One of the most horrific acts it has indulged in is the abduction and the forced disappearance of its opponents,” the PPP members said in their motion. They said according to the HRCP report at least 400 people have gone missing from the country since 2001.

“These people have been picked by intelligence and law- enforcement agencies that refuse to give any reason for rounding up these people. These people are forcibly kept under detention for long periods and are tortured and humiliated by the agencies.”

The PPP MNAs stated that many of those who were abducted come from violence-hit areas. “The largest number of disappearances is from Balochistan. The top targets of the agencies are those who are suspected of being involved in the attacks on Gen Pervez Musharraf, the Baloch nationalist struggle and those struggling for the rights of Sindhi people,” they said.

The PPP members stated that it was pertinent to note that despite repeated demands from the Supreme Court, “the interior ministry and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) refused to share the details and the whereabouts of those abducted. Fear and uncertainty grips the relatives of the missing people. In a humiliating incident in Islamabad, the police stripped the son of a missing person in public as he was protesting against the abduction of his father.

“This constitutes a grave concern for protection of public interest. It is entirely of recent occurrence and requires immediate discussion on the floor of the house by suspending all other business.”

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