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Pakistan faces fuel disruption as pump owners strike nationwide

The All Pakistan Petrol Pumps Owners Association (APPPOA) announced a nationwide shutdown of petrol pumps, after talks with the federal government failed to resolve the group’s demands.

Association chairman Humayun Khan said, escalating a standoff over fuel pricing policy and dealer commissions across the country.

Khan said representatives from all four provinces, along with Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, met with Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik to present two central demands, converting dealer commissions to a percentage based system, and reversing the government’s recent shift from monthly to daily fuel price revisions.

Khan said the talks failed to address either concern, leaving dealers across the country in what he described as an increasingly difficult financial position.

The government recently moved to a daily fuel price review system, basing prices on a seven day average of international rates amid volatility in global oil markets following renewed conflict in the Middle East.

Khan criticized the policy, saying dealers have been absorbing losses for the past two to three months. He argued that whether prices rise all at once or in smaller daily increments, the overall impact on consumers remains the same, and accused the government of shifting the financial burden onto petrol pumps, oil marketing companies, and refineries to avoid public criticism.

Association leader Nauman Butt confirmed that talks with the petroleum minister had failed to produce results on both dealer margins and the daily pricing issue. He said the strike would begin at midnight on July 22 and continue until the association’s demands are accepted, directing all member pumps to fully participate.

The Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance announced its support for the strike. Alliance president Malik Shehzad Awan urged the federal government to accept the demands of petrol pump and dealer associations, warning that transporters would also be affected as operations grind to a halt. He called on authorities to consult stakeholders more directly when shaping fuel policy.

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