The Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has announced a 24-hour nationwide shutdown of petrol pumps from 6:00 a.m. on Thursday until 6:00 a.m. on Friday. Association leaders warned that if the government fails to accept their demands after the one-day strike, they will announce their next course of action.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi on Wednesday, PPDA Chief Advisor Malik Khuda Bakhsh, accompanied by Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan, Sindh President Haji Amir Khan, Saeed Khan, and Anwar Kamal, termed the government’s decision to revise petroleum prices every 24 hours as “unacceptable.” They urged the government to restore the 30-day pricing mechanism for petroleum products.

Malik Khuda Bakhsh said that petroleum product prices should be revised on a monthly basis instead of every 24 hours. He pointed out that dealers’ margins had not been increased for the past two years and demanded that a permanent dealers’ commission of 8% be fixed. He also called for an end to oil marketing companies’ allocation policies and urged the government to ensure an uninterrupted supply of petroleum products.

He further demanded that petrol pump operators be allowed to recover bank and POS charges on card and digital payments from customers. In addition, he called for the abolition of what he described as the unfair fuel allocation policy of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and sought improvements in the fuel supply system.

PPDA Sindh President Haji Amir Khan said dealers had been struggling for the past two years to secure an increase in their margins and urged the government to immediately fulfill its commitment of fixing an 8% margin for dealers.

PPDA Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan said the association had placed five demands before the government and would not withdraw any of them. He reiterated that the government should immediately accept the dealers’ legitimate demands; otherwise, the association would soon announce its next phase of protest.