MANSEHRA, March 5: The wheel-jam strike called by local transporters to press for the removal of toll plaza on a section of the Karakoram Highway between Mansehra and Abbottabad entered its third consecutive day on Friday.

The local administration and police failed to convince the transporters to end their strike. The local bus stands remained deserted throughout the day. The transporters expressed their anger over the damage done to their vehicles by the police.

The police, according to the transporters, inflicted losses of millions of rupees to them. The ulema, during the Friday prayers, criticized the police and demanded of the government to remove the toll plaza and pay compensation to the transporters for the damage.

They also sympathised with the family of deceased sub- inspector Mohammad Safeer Khan, adding that the police had no right to damage the vehicles. They said that instead of creating problems for the public and transporters, the police should arrest the culprits involved in opening fire on police.