HARIPUR, Jan 4: Speakers at an all-parties conference have expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the city and asked the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to curb crimes.

The APC was organized by the district chapter of the Jamaat-i-Islami and was attended by office-bearers of the PML-N, PPP, JUI and other political parties.

The speakers said that criminal activities like robbery, burglary, mugging and murder had registered an upward trend across the district in recent days.

They said the situation had created a sense of insecurity among citizens who did not feel secure even in their homes as bandits appear to have been given a free hand by police.

They said the worsening law and order situation indicated that there was no rule of law and the city had been taken over by criminals from whom no body was safe. The speakers also criticized the performance of Rescue-15, adding that criminals had been carrying out their activities without any fear.

They asked the police to improve its performance otherwise, people would resort to agitation. They also described the recent reshuffling of police personnel at the SHO-level as cosmetic measures and demanded concrete steps to arrest the growing numbers of robberies and thefts in the city.

The speakers also condemned the tehsil municipal administration's decision of allotting land for the construction of Rescue-15 building within the limits of the Ayub Park.

Speaking on the occasion, tehsil Nazim Iftikhar Ahmad Khan expressed his regrets over the issue of Ayub Park land allotment, and said that funds in this regard were released by the district nazim.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Shabbir Kakakhel, Haji Tahir Qureshi, Ejaz Durrani, Pervez Rana, Malik Rab Nawaz, Tehseenul Haq, Saboor Qureshi, Iqbal Chauhan, Maulana Fazl-i-Maula, Seth Khalid of PML-Q, Abdul Haleem, Younus Dosh, Sheikh Abid and Qari Yaqub.