FAISALABAD, Jan 26: Legislators, representatives of trade bodies, political parties and industrialists have expressed resentment over deteriorating law and order situation in the district.
In separate statements on Monday, they said that the dacoity and robbery incidents in rural and urban areas of the district had become a routine matter because of negligence on the part of police officials.
Deputy Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly, Rana Sanaullah Khan, PPP's Punjab Secretary General Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan, District President and former MPA Rana Farooq Saeed Khan, PML-N city president and former MPA Khwaja Islam and MPAs Sheikh Ijaz Ahmad and Malik Nawaz said that the local police had failed to prevent crime in the district.
They alleged that the police high-ups remained busy in the character assassination of politicians and implicating them in concocted cases. All Pakistan Cotton Powerlooms Association chairman Rana Ikhlaq and vice-chairman Akram Ghauri claimed that the trade bodies had been making hue and cry for the last couple of months over the increase in the incidents of heinous crimes. But the police functionaries were playing the role of silent spectators.
They said that dacoits looted 20 industrial units in the district during the last two months which reflected the efficiency of the police high-ups. All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran city president Sheikh Taj Mahmood and other trade leaders said that the police had set up pickets on all main roads of the city but the dacoits were looting the people without any fear.
They said that the police failed to protect the lives and properties of the citizens and resorted to minting money through negative tactics. Union council Nazims Sharafat Ali Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bandhecha, Naeem Dastgir, Tariq Bashir Ghauri, Intisar Ahmad, Rana Usman, Dilbar Hameed and a number of councillors of the Tehsil Municipal Administrations of City, Saddar, Chak Jhumra, Samundari and Jaranwala also expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the local police.
They claimed that the entire district was in the grip of outlaws as the incidents of heinous crimes were on the rise. They urged the chief minister and the governor to direct the authorities concerned to take bold steps to arrest the crime graph.