With the resumption of NATO supplies through Pakistan on the cards, the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Owners Association (APOTA) has given a 72-hour ultimatum to the government against the increasing number of oil theft and kidnapping of transporters on various highways of the country.
Muhammad Yousuf Shahwani, the APOTA chairman, in a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday, warned of launching a protest against the criminal activities while blocking the country’s main highways.
The kidnappings of transporters are increasing day by day in the country especially in Sindh, where the criminals stop oil tankers and steal the oil, which is then sold at various points in the cities of the province, he said.
The traffic police and excise police, assigned to protect the transporters and their goods, are involved in minting money through bribes on the main roads including Karachi Link Road, Super Highway and other link roads to Hyderabad, Kashmor, Jacobabad, and Shikarpur, he added.
The APOTA chairman said the oil marketing companies are also not accepting the insurance claims of the oil tankers’ owners despite having the tracker reports, causing millions of rupees to the transporters.
“The in-house insurance introduced by the Pakistan State Oil was not acceptable to the oil tankers’ owners,” he added.
Shahwani said the transporters of Saindak project of Balochistan have faced Rs 90 million in terms of “bogus shortage”.
