Petroleum dealers to go on countrywide strike from tomorrow

• Petrol pumps will close from 6 am on Thursday for an indefinite period across Pakistan, say dealers
• No government official has contacted us about our demands so far, says PPDA’s Secretary Noman Butt.
• PPDA secretary laments government continues to ignore their demands.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) Wednesday announced to go on a countrywide strike from tomorrow (November 25) to register their protest at what they call "low-profit margins".

Talking to journalists, PPDA’s Secretary Noman Butt said all petrol pumps will close at 6 am from Thursday for an indefinite period across the country, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

He maintained that the government has continued to ignore their demands, adding that they would not hold talks with authorities till their profit margins on the sale of petroleum products is not increased by 6%.

Butt said the petroleum dealers were previously told by the government that their demands would be met hence they had called off the strike,

“After receiving assurance from the government that our demands would be accepted, we had taken back the November 5 strike call,” Noman Butt said.

Responding to a question, the PPDA secretary said that no government official has contacted them about their demands so far.