Goods transporters across Pakistan launched an indefinite nationwide strike on Saturday, protesting rising fuel costs, daily diesel price adjustments, taxation and regulatory measures that they say are increasing the financial burden on the transport sector.

All Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance President Malik Shehzad Awan said freight operators had suspended services across the country and would continue the strike until their demands were addressed.

He said the federal government had invited alliance representatives for talks on Monday, while the transporters had formed a committee to represent them during negotiations. The strike would continue until the outcome of the talks was reviewed and a future course of action announced.

Awan said earlier negotiations between transporters and government representatives at the Commissioner’s Office had failed to produce a breakthrough.

The transporters are demanding a reduction in taxes on diesel and the restoration of fuel prices to their July 1, 2024 level. They are also opposing the daily adjustment of diesel prices and want fuel prices revised fortnightly or monthly to provide greater predictability for transport operators.

According to Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) publishes daily fuel prices based on a seven-day average of international benchmark prices. The daily review mechanism was introduced amid heightened volatility in global oil markets linked to tensions in the Middle East.

The alliance is also demanding that withholding tax on cargo transporters be reduced from 7% to 2%, arguing that oil tanker operators are already subject to the lower rate.

Transporters have further objected to customs enforcement measures under which vehicles carrying non-duty-paid goods may be confiscated. They are seeking simplified procedures for heavy transport vehicle driving licences and a reduction in toll taxes.

Ministers’ resignations demanded

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Awan said goods transport operations across the country were being suspended as part of the ongoing protest.

He accused the federal and provincial governments of failing to implement the alliance’s charter of demands, insisting that all their demands were constitutional and legitimate.

Awan said transporters were staging a peaceful protest by parking their vehicles rather than blocking roads, adding that they did not want to cause inconvenience to citizens.

He called for the resignation of Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik and Punjab Senior Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, alleging that commitments made to transporters had not been honoured.

Awan claimed that a single trailer was paying up to Rs2.4 million in toll taxes in addition to taxes on petroleum products.

He alleged that the government was not serious about negotiations and said a committee had been formed to hold talks with government officials.

According to Awan, the strike would be called off once the government issued a formal notification for talks. 

Iran set preconditions for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, including compensation for war damages, complicating a potential deal to open the waterway essential to the world economy.

Tehran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait since the United States and Israel struck Iran in late February, and wants to charge tolls for passage, attacking ships it accuses of attempting to circumvent its preferred route.

Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to transit before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire. Mediators have since urged both sides to return to the terms of a June memorandum.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said discussions with Oman over transit and management of the strait were “approaching the final stages”, but added the reopening of Hormuz “is subject to other conditions and compensation for the violation” of the June agreement.

Security chief Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr on Saturday laid out a list of demands for reopening the strait, including an end to the “war and aggression against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq”.

He also demanded the lifting of a parallel US naval blockade of Iran, the end of sanctions, the release of frozen assets and compensation for wartime damage, according to remarks reported by Tasnim news agency.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, meanwhile, said Hormuz’s reopening had “nothing to do with the negotiations between Iran and Oman”, adding that the “enemy is forced to accept Iran’s conditions for the opening of the strait”.

Repeated attacks

The comments came as transit through Hormuz has dropped significantly, with Iran targeting ships it accuses of skirting its preferred route through Iranian waters.

The United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry on Saturday condemned what it called a “hostile Iranian attack that targeted a tanker belonging to Adnoc (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) with a missile while it was transiting the Strait of Hormuz, without causing casualties”.

Later on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a ship was hit by a projectile off Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire that was extinguished but no casualties. It was unclear whether they were referring to the same ship.

On Friday, Adnoc had put out a statement saying that since the start of the war, 15 of its vessels had been attacked in Hormuz, “including three vessels this week alone”.

Oman’s foreign ministry on Saturday condemned “repeated attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”, without naming Iran.

It also said that “ongoing negotiations regarding navigation arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding in a positive and constructive atmosphere”, and urged against any actions that might jeopardise the progress.

The previous Iran-US deal — meant to serve as a jumping-off point for negotiations on a permanent settlement — had said Iran and Oman would hash out future arrangements for the strait in discussion with other Gulf countries and “in line with the applicable international law”.

International law generally forbids tolling in such waterways.

Security agreement

Turkish foreign minister said Saturday he expected Egypt to join a joint defence agreement between Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan designed to stabilise the region, calling the country a “natural partner on all issues”.

“I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance. We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in an interview.

A drone struck US assets at an Egyptian port on the Mediterranean last month, marking the first drone attack on Egyptian territory since the outbreak of the Iran war.

Fidan said the agreement does not target a specific country.

“There is no common threat that we have put in writing,” he said, according to the news agency.

 The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed the trading week on a positive note, with the benchmark KSE-100 index gaining 5,335 points to settle at 181,430.

According to the weekly market update, the KSE-100 index traded within a range of 4,963 points, reaching a weekly high of 182,007 and a low of 177,043.

During the week, around 3.74 billion shares were traded in the market, with transactions valued at Rs169 billion.

The market’s total capitalisation also increased by Rs482 billion during the week, reaching Rs20,237 billion.