The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced that they would be shutting down all petrol pumps across the country from 6am on Friday (tomorrow) as their negotiations with the government have failed to yield any results.

In a statement, the PPDA said that no conclusion could be reached despite repeated meetings with the finance minister, the Federal Board of Revenue chairman, and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority chairman. The association had demanded that the government roll back the taxes, but the negotiations did not produce any positive outcome.

“We are compelled to go on strike,” Abdul Sami Khan, the PPDA president, said. “We have repeatedly demanded that the government refund the taxes, but despite all our efforts, our demands are not being met, and we have no option left except to go on strike.”

He had said that there would be no negotiations until the government reversed its decision and 14,000 dealers across the country would shut down their pumps from July 5.

This comes in contrast to the stance of the Pakistan Oil Tankers Association, which has dissociated itself from the PPDA’s strike.

Shams Shahwani, the Oil Tankers Association chairman, said that the supply of petrol and diesel would continue throughout the country and they “cannot think of suspending the supply in the current situation.”

He said that they had decided to save the consumers from any inconvenience.