The All Pakistan Goods Transport Owners Association says its nationwide wheel-jam strike will continue after talks with the government ended without a breakthrough (Geo News).
“We are ready to continue the negotiations with the government,” the association’s Awais Chaudhry said, adding that the strike would run until the demands are “practically accepted” and that transporters would not abandon what he called their legitimate and legal demands under any circumstances. He said Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan had assured them their problems would be solved, but that the talks had not produced agreement.
The Communications Ministry described the same meetings rather differently. Its statement said Abdul Aleem Khan had held talks with the transporters, that decisions reached over two days of discussions had been given final shape, and that the minister had assured maximum relief and early resolution of complaints about weigh stations, with modern, minimally staffed weigh stations to be built on all motorways. “Goods transporters expressed their gratitude to Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan and paid tribute to him for handling all matters effectively,” it read.
The strike is still on.
Some substance did emerge, according to sources. In a fourth round of talks the government agreed in principle not to raise toll taxes for one year, and it was decided that petroleum product prices would not be increased for one to two weeks. Neither commitment has been formally notified, and the second is a pause rather than a change to the mechanism the transporters object to.
That mechanism is the core of the dispute. The transporters want the daily revision of diesel prices replaced with fortnightly or monthly changes so freight can be priced with some predictability. OGRA has published daily prices since the government moved to the system amid volatility in international markets, with rates set against a seven-day average of international benchmarks.
Their other demands are for lower taxes on diesel, the restoration of fuel prices to their July 1, 2024 level, a cut in the withholding tax on cargo transporters from 7 per cent to 2 per cent, and lower tolls.
The stoppage began on Saturday and is now in its fifth day. The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association has warned that export containers, imported cotton and locally procured cotton are all stranded, with mills holding low stocks at the end of the season.
