KARACHI: The government sprang into action on Wednesday after a 10-day strike by goods’ transporters had virtually paralysed the Karachi port to the point where the arrival of vessels had been disrupted, and managed to convince the transporters’ bodies to call off their protest against the restriction on the movement of heavy vehicles during daytime within the metropolis.

The Sindh government also moved the apex court against the order of the Sindh High Court that had restrained the entry of heavy vehicles into the city during daytime, as the protesting transporters claimed that no alternative route had been provided to the goods carriers.

The Governor House in a brief statement said the transporters called off the strike following talks with Sindh Governor Mohammed Zubair. “The Sindh governor has thanked all the transporters and their representative bodies who agreed to call off the strike. He hoped that the transport operation would resolve the crisis at the ports and container terminals within the next few hours,” it said.

However, Israr Ahmed Shinwari of the Muttahida Transport Federation, while thanking the governor for taking “personal interest” in resolving the issue, warned that the crisis was not fully over and it was just a temporary arrangement on assurance of the authorities.


Goods carriers threaten to go on strike again if ‘final proposal’ not forwarded


“We have been asked by the authorities to clear all those thousands of containers stuck up at ports and terminals within three days,” he said.

“There is no route defined and transporters have just been tasked with this job to [be] completed within three days. Then they have promised us that they would come up with a final proposal and solution to accept our demand for [alternative] routes. If they fail to do so, we will be forced to go on strike again.”

Sindh govt moves SC

Meanwhile, the Sindh government moved the apex court against the order of the Sindh High Court which had restrained the entry of heavy vehicles into any part of the city during daytime.

The SHC had last month directed the provincial transport secretary and the traffic police chief to immediately enforce the ban on the movement of heavy vehicles in the metropolis during daytime.

Headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar, a two-judge SHC bench had also directed the deputy inspector general of [traffic] police to deploy an extra, efficient and effective force to implement the apex court’s orders in letter and spirit and take action against traffic violators.

Faisal Bangali and other concerned citizens had moved the SHC against the relevant authorities for failing to enforce the ban on the movement of heavy traffic on roads during daytime.

The provincial government asked the Supreme Court to grant leave to appeal against the SHC order and suspend its operation till final decision of the matter.

In its petition, the government said that the SHC order went way beyond the said prayer and was contrary to the orders of the Honourable Supreme Court of Pakistan, which directs categorically that the heavy vehicles/trailers shall ply on the roads of Karachi by entering the city limits during night hours between 11pm and 6am.

It was submitted that the SHC failed to consider that the goods transporters’ associations taking advantage of the impugned order called for a strike, bringing economy of this province and the country to a halt.

The Sindh government said that if the SHC directives were implemented further the Karachi port might be shut down, and the province as well as the entire country would suffer from non-availability of the goods imported through Karachi port.

The petitioner said that the transporters’ strike was against the Sindh government with a demand to provide alternative routes for the movement of these heavy vehicles. But there were no sufficient routes available with the petitioners to be provided to heavy vehicles for entering and exiting Karachi.

Meanwhile, a news channel quoted the goods transporters’ associations as saying that medium-level vehicles would ply the whole day while heavy trucks would begin operation from 11pm onwards. “And for now they will not be plying on Sunset Boulevard,” it added.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2017

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