Goods transporters across Pakistan have called off their nationwide wheel-jam strike after the government agreed to their demands, with Central President of the Pakistan Transport Council Tanvir Ahmed Jutt declaring, “Transporters are not smugglers, they do business.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a committee headed by Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan to address the transporters’ grievances, Jutt said, adding that Khan was personally overseeing their legitimate demands and would ensure they were met.
Jutt said the decision to end the strike was taken in the “wider national interest,” noting that around eight of their immediate demands had been accepted, while committees had been formed to take up the remaining issues. He thanked Field Marshal Asim Munir, PM Shehbaz Sharif and Abdul Aleem Khan for their cooperation during the negotiations, and appealed to the transporters’ alliance to trust the decision to end the strike.
The alliance comprises 15 organisations, including the Islam Goods Transport Association and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Goods Federation, Jutt said.
The wheel-jam strike had shut down the country’s ports, severely disrupting imports and exports and causing losses worth billions of rupees, with the business community facing an increasingly precarious situation as a result, he said.
Jutt said that instead of fixing diesel prices on a daily basis, committees have now been formed to settle the matter, adding that some decisions had also been made regarding toll plazas.
“A new era of freedom begins today,” Jutt said, warning that if the demands were not met or the government reneged on its promises, transporters would shut down the entire country again. He said goods transporters should resume operations from Karachi Port and Port Qasim, and that any issues faced by transporters going forward would be taken up and resolved at the organisational level.
Among the commitments made, Jutt said additional toll plazas would be withdrawn through a cabinet decision, and toll collection would be brought under automation. He said action would be taken in line with the spirit of NHSO 2000, and that Mazda trucks would be allowed to operate at a 12-ton weight limit, while 10-wheeler Volvo trucks had been permitted up to 35 tons.
He added that under SRO 1619, impounded vehicles would be released against bank guarantees.
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