12 January 2004	Monday	19 Ziqa'ad 1424

MARDAN, Jan 11: The provincial president of the Pakistan People's Party (Parliamentarian), Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, has said that incidents of robberies, theft and kidnapping had increased in the district and the law and order situation deteriorated.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, Mr Hoti rejected a claim made by provincial senior minister Sirajul Haq during a recent visit to Mardan that the law and order situation had improved despite resource constraints.

He said that crimes, like robberies, kidnapping and car theft had increased to the extent that the criminals even did not spare the day time to carry out their activities. The PPP leader said that the provincial government had completely failed to control crimes and improve the law and order situation.