Transporters across Pakistan began an indefinite nationwide strike on Saturday after the government failed to accept their demands, halting the transportation of goods and suspending import-export operations at all ports.

Tanveer Ahmed Jutt, Pakistan Mini Mazda Association, said the strike had disrupted the supply of vegetables, pulses, medicines and other essential goods nationwide from Saturday, as the government had not addressed transporters’ concerns.

He said the alliance’s core demand is the withdrawal of the daily fuel price adjustment mechanism, along with immediate resolution of issues listed in the transporters’ charter of demand.

Jutt also called for the reversal of recent increases in token tax and transfer fees, the removal of what he described as illegal toll plazas, and the withdrawal of the recent hike in toll tax. He further demanded that ownership of auctioned Mazda vehicles be restored and that Mazda trucks be reclassified as two-axle vehicles.

The strike will continue until all legitimate demands accepted by the government during the previous strike are implemented, Jutt said.

Transporters had first announced the strike on August 3, citing rising fuel prices and unsustainable operating costs.

At a press conference in Karachi that week, All Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance president Malik Shahzad Awan said transporters could no longer sustain their business given rising diesel and petrol prices, and demanded the government abolish the daily fuel price adjustment mechanism in favour of monthly price revisions.

He also called for toll tax rates to be restored to their June 2024 level and for the withdrawal of a 7% withholding tax on the goods transport sector.