"This was a tactical success for the party's protest. However, the strategic success would come when the US commits to stopping drone attacks on Pakistan," said PTI's Central Secretary-Information Dr Shireen Mazrai while responding to reports of the US military halting ground cargo shipments from Afghanistan via Pakistan because of the PTI's protest.
She said the impact of the PTI protest on the US had been admitted to by Pentagon spokesman Mark Wight who conceded that the protest had affected outgoing shipments of equipment and other goods from US units on Afghan soil. "If the PTI's determined protest through stoppage of Nato supplies from Khyber Pukhtunkhwa could register an impact with the Pentagon, a resolute show of determination by the federal government to stop drones backed by the APC mandate would have the desired impact on the US," she added. Unfortunately, Mazari said, the federal government after Sharif's visit to Washington had sacrificed the interests and mandate of the people of Pakistan and the APC to US interests. "It has become abundantly clear that the Sharif government has arrived at a covert deal on drones with the US in the same manner as its predecessors," Mazari concluded.
However, official response of the government of Pakistan could not be obtained despite repeated attempts including telephone calls and text messages to Foreign Office spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid. The PTI sit-in against drone strikes entered its 11th day on Wednesday, as transporters and oil tanker owners decried the losses they are suffering on daily basis due to the blockade of the main Torkham-Peshawar road. They said the blockade had seriously affected the commercial activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Talking to Business Recorder, Taj Mohammad, executive member of the All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association, said trade and business activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan had suffered following Salala incident while the ongoing blockade by PTI had brought the bilateral trade to a stand still.
"Neither Nato nor the US, but we the people of Pakistan who have businesses along both sides of the borders, are suffering due to the blockade; Nato supplies have already been reduced up to 10 percent of the total trade and business activities via Torkham border," he decried.
He said not only the Nato containers but all other commercial and transit consignments destined to Afghanistan or from Afghanistan had also suffered. He pointed out that those trucks and containers transporting things to and from Afghanistan under Afghan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) were also at a standstill as it was difficult for PTI activists to differentiate between Nato and other consignments. He rejected reports as rumours that the oil transport might be suspended between KP and rest of the country as result of PTI's protest.
Shakir Afridi, President Khyber Transport Association, said there were 4,000 tankers and 3,000 containers transporting Nato goods but following Salala incident the number had been reduced. He said those days hardly 20 Nato tankers/containers passed through Torkham border.
He pointed out that Nato had already reduced its supplies following Salala incident and those days there were hardly 10 to 15 containers passing through Torkham border. The ongoing protest might further reduce the number of containers passing through Torkham with consequent loss of livelihood of Pakistani transporters, he added.