KARACHI – The Karachi Transporters Ittehad (KTI) called off their wheel-jam strike on Friday following a meeting at the Governor House where with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad assured them of gradual fulfilment of all their demands. Friday was the second day of the strike, as transporters rejected the plea of Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Thursday night, where he had urged them to back-pedal their strike in view of the government slashing the POL price hike by half. Transporters had argued that their strike would continue till all their demands were met.
The governor, however, invited them on Friday for a dialogue – a meeting that was attended by a KTI delegation led by the association’s president, Irshad Bukhari. Besides the reduction POL prices, transporters demanded that the government must pay them Rs 9 million in compensation money for drivers killed during different strikes and riots in the city as well as buses that were torched, damaged or commissioned by law enforcement personnel from time to time.
Ebad assured transporters of gradually complying with their demands. He said that the government had accepted their demand of reducing POL prices, and needed more time to comply with other demands. Later, KTI President Bukhari announced calling off the strike during a press conference at the Governor House. Flanked by Ebad, the KTI president said that the strike was called off because of the governor’s assurances.
He also claimed that no discussions were held on increasing bus fares. Meanwhile, the Oil Tankers Association also postponed their strike till March 15 after the government’s announcement of reducing the hike in POL prices.
