July 5, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 4,1424

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RAWALPINDI, July 4: The All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association (APOTOA) has threatened to relaunch protest campaign if its demands are not accepted within 15 days.

Speaking at a press conference at the Rawalpindi Press Club on Friday, the APOTOA chairman, Yousaf Sehwani, and other representatives of the association said they would pour oil on the main roads of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and blacken them if their demands went unheeded. He gave 15 days to the government to respond or else their protest would ensue.

Mr Sehwani said they had a meeting with the acting president who assured action on their demands. “Last year, the authorities had made such promises but let us down later on,” they alleged.

The demands include security for the oil tankers on the main thoroughfares especially in the Punjab. “Robberies are at the peak and police have failed to save us from the looters,” they said.

Mr Yousaf complained that the National High Authority had been increasing its toll taxes from time to time and said the practice should be stopped.

In the NWFP and Baluchistan, oil is smuggled in connivance with the authorities concerned badly affecting the oil tankers, he alleged. “A multinational company in cahoots with some vested interests has imposed a ban on issuing NOC to our oil tankers and lorries thereby rendering many of our fellows jobless for the last one year,” he alleged.