People in Pakistan tend to heave a collective sigh every time they hear that the government has formed a committee to deal with a problem, for they think that is the easiest way to ensure the status quo is maintained.
However, one such committee, formed on Wednesday by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to make goods transporters come back on the roads from their 11-day strike, pulled off a feat within hours.
The transporters ended their countrywide strike after conducting four-hour-long negotiations with the two-member committee, headed by federal minister for ports and shipping Babar Awan and comprising Senator Abbas Afridi.
“We have received assurances that 90 per cent of our demands [will be met], and we are confident that the government will honour its commitments,” said Ghulam Yaseen Khan, chairperson of United Goods Transporters Alliance (UGTA), a newly-formed coalition of 37 truckers unions. We cancelled our strike around 2.30am on Thursday, added Khan.
Since last Tuesday, over 40,000 trucks, 120,000 truckers and many more labourers associated with the cargo trade had been out of business. The strike had halted almost all movement of goods in the country, especially at three seaports. The protesters had demanded increased protection of vehicles on roads as well as security from extortionists, and the resolution of their disagreements with the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) on overloaded vehicles. Truckers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan also jumped into the fray, halting road cargo activities across the country.
Exporters had claimed that goods worth Rs100 billion were stuck in ports and industrial areas. They criticised the government for taking such a long time to resolve the dispute, during which the business community had lost billions of rupees to exporters after they failed to honour commitments with their buyers.
Officials close to the negotiations said the transporters union agreed to gradually get their members follow the official weight requirements, and the government has allowed them three months during which highway officials will not fine overloaded trucks.
“Within three months, we will make sure that all our members reduce half of the load that they carry, as it is damaging our highways,” said Khan.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 14th, 2012.
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