Goods transporters continued their strike on the fourth consecutive day on Friday due to which seaborne trade of Pakistan also remained suspended. The protesting transporters denounced the federal and provincial governments for not holding talks with them. "Sindh Transport Minister, Syed Nasir Shah has offered forming a committee to sort out the issue," Agha Jawad Raza, spokesman for Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance, Aga Jawad Raza told Business Recorder.
However, he said, Sindh government has expressed no interest in solving the transporters problems for which they resorted to observance of strike. "On the fourth day of strike, Nasir Shah offers us to form a committee to address the problems," he complained. Jawad said that the transport minister has promised to arrange a meeting of the protesting transporters with the Sindh Chief Minister, who is visiting China nowadays, that reflected the government's non-seriousness towards the issue. "The transporters have given an ultimate that they will block all entry and exit routes of the city if problems are not solved by Saturday," he said.
Atiq Mir, chairman All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, said that transporters strike was wrong and that badly affected supplies of goods to the city and upcountry. In an exclusive chat, he expressed fear that the essential commodities could go costlier ahead of Ramazan. He urged the transporters to end strike immediately to help citizens find goods without troubles. "Supplies of essential commodities to markets from and to upcountry have been adversely affected," he said, adding that the strike triggered freight charges of goods transportation up by 25 percent during the last two days. He apprehended that the strike is likely to escalate problems for traders and consumers. He also asked the government to seek an amicable solution to the issues.