ISLAMABAD: Pakistani goods transporters are meeting a top government delegation today, Sunday, to seek a resolution to a nine-day strike that has disrupted the movement of imports, exports and essential supplies to various parts of the country, the leader of a transport association said.
Pakistani goods transporters announced the strike last Saturday against the government’s move to daily revise diesel rates and have also demanded changes to toll taxes. They have urged the government to strictly implement existing regulations on axle-load management.
Transporters say around 400 vehicles are currently taking part in the strike, and that cargo movement at the ports has been severely affected. A government delegation led by Federal Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, the transport ministers of Sindh and Punjab provinces, are meeting representatives of the All-Pakistan Goods Transport Owners Association to hear their demands at the Sindh Governor House on Sunday afternoon, the association’s President Mohammad Owais Chaudhry said.
“We firmly believe that our strike will continue until our demands are accepted and a formal notification is issued,” Chaudhry told Arab News.
The association leader said transporters wanted the daily petroleum pricing mechanism changed to a monthly or fortnightly system, arguing that frequent price changes made it difficult for operators to manage freight costs.
Chaudhry said good transporters are also seeking strict but a workable enforcement mechanism of axle-load regulations as well as a reduction in toll taxes.
“At present, the ports are completely choked, and around 400 vehicles are participating in this strike,” Chaudhry said about the strike’s impact.
Khan did not respond to Arab News’ request for a comment.
Goods transporters and the government have held talks to resolve the dispute this week. The government on Tuesday decided to establish a Joint Monitoring Committee comprising Customs authorities and goods transporters to address transporters’ issues.
Khan had called for state-of-the-art weigh stations, with minimal human intervention, to be established on all motorways to facilitate transporters, the state-run APP reported.
Chaudhry said transporters had received verbal assurances from authorities over the past four or five days. However, he said they were unwilling to end the strike without a written and binding executive order.
The standoff carries particular significance for Karachi, Pakistan’s main commercial hub, where prolonged interruptions to cargo movement leave import and export consignments stranded, triggering steep demurrage and detention charges.
