QUETTA: Oil tanker operators continued their strike for the fourth day on Monday, forcing the closure of the filling stations in Quetta and elsewhere in Balochistan in support of their demands and complaints against the security forces.

The strike caused a severe shortage of petrol and diesel as all the filling stations remained closed, resulting in problems for the people.

However, a partial agreement was reported between the local administration and the tanker operators to ease the strike for three hours to ensure fuel supply to emergency services and provide relief to the consumers.

The participants of a meeting decided to resume the talks on Tuesday morning.

Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri had instructed the administration to hold negotiations with the strikers for redressing their grievances.

On the other hand, illegal improvised pumps deep inside the settlements were making a windfall profit from the strike by selling petrol at Rs180 per litre.

When contacted, representatives of the Oil Tanker Association said their provincial leaders had met the home secretary in Quetta and an announcement regarding the strike would be made after the consultations.

Frontier Corps officials told reporters that allegations levelled against the FC were baseless and it had prepared a strategy for preventing terrorist incidents caused by letting terrorists enter the city through tankers. An explosion was carried out in Hazara Town in the past by using an oil tanker and a large number of people had died in the incident.

Strict measures have also been taken by the FC to prevent smuggling of diesel from Iran.

The FC officials said all oil companies had been contacted to ascertain the number of tankers arriving in Quetta with Pakistani diesel on a daily basis along with the vehicle registration number, date, voucher number and driver’s name and identity card of each of them.

As soon as a tanker arrives at Lak Pass, its data is checked, which requires 20 minutes. If the record differs, the tanker is stopped. Otherwise, it is allowed to enter the city. The officials said the tanker owners and other stakeholders had been informed about the procedure, but they had gone on the strike in protest against the security checks.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2017