Protesters demanding resumption of inter-provincial transport block Super Highway

In protest against the Sindh government’s ban on inter-provincial transport, transporters blocked both tracks of the Super Highway on Monday evening, causing a massive traffic jam.

The protest, which ended a few hours later, was also attended by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Alamgir Khan and other leaders Saeed Afridi and Rabistan Khan. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the inter-provincial transport has been banned in the province since the last five months.

Afridi said that while the Sindh transport minister supported the oil tanker transporters’ strike, he neglected the woes of inter-provincial transporters. The provincial minister, the PTI leader said, had proved that the Sindh government would support any move against the federal government.

By imposing the ban on the inter-provincial transport, Afridi said, the Sindh government was trying to extort money from the transporters who were facing losses of millions of rupees on a daily basis.

The protesting complained that due to the ban on inter-provincial transport, they had been facing extreme financial losses. Supreme Council of All Pakistan Transporters Senior Vice Chairman Malik Riaz said that they had assured the provincial government that they would abide by all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and pointed out that the transport services in all the other provinces of the country had been resumed.

Meanwhile, the Sindh transport department in a statement said that the permission for the operations of the inter-provincial transport had to be given by the task force on COVID-19. Sindh Transport Minister Owais Shah said that most of the participants at the protest were not the transporters. The PTI, he said, as trying to spread chaos by exploiting transporters.

If the PTI could not control the COVID-19 pandemic, it must refrain from spreading it, Shah said. He pointed out that the issue of the ban on the inter-provincial transport was being heard in court.

“The decision to lift the ban can be taken in the light of the court’s decision,” he said adding that the transporters themselves had approached the court on the issue. The transport minister also announced that action would be taken against the illegal transport depots in the city.