The patience of goods transporters has run out over the alleged forced blockade of freight vehicles by Federal and provincial governments to prevent political protests, as the All Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance threatened a nationwide strike and a complete shutdown of ports over unpaid rent and dues.

All Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance Chairman Nisar Hussain Jafferi warned the government that if immediate payments were not made for the rent of containers seized to block the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) long march in Islamabad, along with outstanding dues worth crores of rupees, transporters would completely halt the movement of goods across the country. He said this would bring the entire system of the country’s imports and exports to a standstill.

He disclosed that, to block political long marches and sit-ins, the administration had forcibly seized and stationed approximately 1,100 goods containers in Islamabad, 1,300 in Punjab and around 2,500 across the country to erect roadblocks. He said the action had brought private transport businesses to a complete halt.

The alliance chairman said the government owed Rs46.5 million in daily rent for all these containers, but despite a long passage of time, not a single rupee had been released to the transporters. He warned that if the government did not make immediate payments, it would bear full responsibility, along with the administration, for the economic crisis caused by the closure of ports and the resulting losses to exports.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)