ISLAMABAD: The All-Pakistan Goods Transport Association announced on Sunday that it has postponed its nationwide strike for 40 days after the government agreed to its demands, warning that the strike will resume if authorities resort to unnecessary delays in implementation of the written agreement or violations of its provisions.
The association went on strike last Saturday against the government's move to revise fuel prices daily and have demanded authorities revise toll charges. Another key sticking point was that the transporters demanded that the government strictly implement existing regulations on axle-load management.
Muhammad Awais Chaudhry, the association's president, announced that transporters have decided to defer the strike for 40 days after reaching a written agreement with the government. He said the deal was signed by Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan at the transporters' protest camp in Karachi after hours-long negotiations.
Chaudhry said the government has issued orders for the implementation of transporters' demands that can be implemented immediately while others that require the federal cabinet's approval will be presented and approved by the cabinet within two weeks.
"All our demands have been accepted and will now be implemented in phases," Chaudhry said in a statement on Sunday. "To give the government an opportunity to implement the agreement, we have deferred our strike for 40 days."
As per a copy of the written agreement shared by the association with Arab News, both sides have agreed that petroleum prices will be revised after every 15 days. A committee has been constituted in this regard which would feature three members of the association.
The agreement states that axle-load regulations will be enforced on motorways and highways across the board, while the government has also agreed to allot transporters a 1,000-acre land for a modern truck stand in Karachi.
On toll rates, the government has agreed to constitute a committee which would determine the new toll plaza and toll tax rate with transporters. The agreement said that withholding tax will be revised to six percent with the cabinet's approval within 15 days, while the Federal Board of Revenue will support the move to reduce it to two percent in the next federal budget.
The nine-day strike threatened to cause supply disruptions across the country, with local media reporting that a prolonged strike threatened to delay export orders. The standoff was particularly important for the southern port city of Karachi, also Pakistan's main commercial hub, where prolonged interruptions to cargo movement leaves import and export consignments stranded, triggering steep demurrage and detention charges.
