- Title: PAKISTAN: Pakistanis trucking NATO supplies to Afghanistan go on strike
- Date: 9th January 2013
- Summary: KARACHI, PAKISTAN (JANUARY 9, 2013) (REUTERS) TRUCKERS HOLDING LARGE BANNER AND PLACARDS, CHANTING "WE DEMAND JUSTICE" PROTESTERS CHANTING "DOWN WITH F.B.R" (FEDERAL BOARD OF REVENUE) PLACARD READING "STOP TYRANNIZING GOODS TRANSPORTERS" PROTESTERS CHANTING "DOWN WITH F.B.R" CROWD APPLAUDING SPEECH PROTESTERS AGREEING TO CONTINUE THE STRIKE BY RAISING HANDS PROTESTERS LIS
- Embargoed: 24th January 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Pakistan
- Country: Pakistan
- Topics: Economy,Employment
- Reuters ID: LVA82YCUDN8GCN3VKTADDE2W7GNH
- Story Text: Pakistani transporters who carry NATO supplies to land-locked Afghanistan have gone on strike, disrupting the flow of goods to Western forces in a protest against a new customs regime aimed at cutting theft.
A spokesman for Afghanistan's NATO-led force declined to comment on how the strike might affect supplies. When Pakistan previously blocked supplies it cost $100 million extra a month to send supplies on longer, alternate routes, U.S. officials said at the time.
The All Pakistan Goods Transportation Association has been unofficially blockading 4,000 vehicles carrying supplies to and from coalition forces in Afghanistan for the past six days.
The truckers are protesting against a new government-imposed system that will require truckers to go through authorized companies to carry NATO supplies instead of making individual deals. The system is designed to cut down on theft.
Transporters say that will hurt their business and they have announced that operations would remain suspended until the system is scrapped.
"We will continue striking as long as customs and F.B.R. do not review their policies. We are the main stakeholder," Hanif Khan Marwat from the All Pakistan Goods Transporters Alliance said on Wednesday (January 9).
"We contacted high officials several times complaining that customs officials have made it a looting business. Custom collection officials are corrupt. They take bribes. They impose such policies upon us that we can not continue our business."
Many supplies for U.S. and other forces in Afghanistan are shipped into the Pakistani port of Karachi and trucked along two routes into Afghanistan.
Pakistan previously banned trucks from carrying NATO-force supplies into Afghanistan in 2011 in protest against a cross-border NATO air strike that inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
The seven-months ban forced the United States to rely on longer, more expensive northern routes through Russia and Central Asia.
The blockade was lifted after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologised for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military in the NATO attack. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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