KARACHI – The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) on Monday stated that the sale of smuggled Iranian oil increased to an alarming level due to the administration’s connivance in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PPDA said an action against protesting dealers will result in a strike at filling stations across the country, paralyzing the entire system.
PPDA Central Executive Committee member Hasan Shah, while addressing an emergency meeting of petroleum dealers, said that PPDA district presidents across the country are waiting for our call to start a strike.
He stated that a strike against the expanding illegal filling points, which pose a serious security hazard, began in the Peshawar Division yesterday.
After the strike, the administration is trying to threaten the petroleum dealers with raids, arrests, and fines instead of closing down the illegal filling points, which we strongly condemn.
He warned that if the members or leaders of the PPDA Peshawar Division, including Najibullah Khan and Gul Nawaz Afridi, were arrested, a nationwide strike would be started immediately.
If the provincial government does not resolve the problems, the country’s entire system will become crippled by the closure of petrol pumps nationwide.
According to Hassan Shah, a large mafia is smuggling substandard Iranian oil, which is being sold publicly across the country, with Peshawar being the most prominent.
Small shops and stalls across the country are selling this substandard and adulterated fuel without adhering to any quality or safety standards, leading to frequent fire incidents that claim precious lives and property, he observed.
On this occasion, Khawaja Atif Ahmed, Humayun Khan, Nadeem Aziz Jan, and Nauman Butt said that this illegal business cannot go on without the connivance of the district administration, police, and other relevant institutions.
The government officials are playing with the country’s future and people’s lives for their personal interests, and there is no one to stop them, they added.
Smuggled oil is costing the government billions of rupees in revenue, destroying the businesses of refineries, oil marketing companies, and dealers, and eliminating the possibility of new investment in this important sector, they observed.
The dealers said that they would not tolerate the sale of Iranian oil in Pakistan.
