LARKANA: The Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed its grave concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the city and called for appropriate measures to check the rising graph of crime.

LCCI president Ahmed Shaikh on Tuesday chaired an emergency meeting of the chamber`s executive committee which was also attended by heads of other trade associations and their federation.

The meeting decided to observe phased protests, including shutterdown strike, if urgent measures were not taken to control crime. It expressed concern over growing incidents of robberies and inaction by police, and noted that the business community was feeling insecure.

Robberies had become order of the day in the city, according to the press release issued by the LCCI.

The meeting stressed that police must make efforts to recover the money and goods looted in a series of robberies committed in recent days.

All criminals involved in the incidents should be arrested and the booty recovered from them, it said.

A 10-member committee was formed to approach the higher authorities and seek appropriate action in this regard. It was also decided that businessmen and traders would wear black armbands and display banners at different locations across the city in the first phase of the protest drive. If the law and order situation remained unchanged, the LCCI would give a call for a shutterdown strike, the meeting warned.

Two former mayors of Larkana, Aslam Shaikh and Khair Mohamemd Shaikh, also attended the meeting.