The Defence of Human Rights and Public Service Trust has protested the mysterious disappearance of thousands of innocent Pakistanis and appealed to the prime minister to take steps to stop the illegal kidnappings of innocent Pakistani citizens in the name of the so-called 'war on terror'.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club here on Friday, Defence of Human Rights and Public Trust Service chairperson Amina Masood Janjua and other office bearers said the Defense of Human Rights had been raising voice against forced kidnappings since 2005 and it had brought 400 such people back to their homes.

They quoted ex-interior minister Aftab Sher Pao's statement in which he said, "We arrested 4,000 people in the name of 'war on terror', out of which 2,000 have been handed over to the foreign agencies." They added that a majority of the missing persons belonged to the Punjab province.

They paid tributes to the Supreme Court of Pakistan for taking up the issue of missing persons very seriously and formulating a commission in this regard.

They appealed to the PM to raise the issue in the Parliament and introduce laws barring the agencies from committing such illegal and unconstitutional acts in future.