No petrol for twin cities as ‘Azadi’ march nears

Published August 8, 2014
People wait to get petrol at a fuel station in Islamabad on Thursday night. – Photo by author
People wait to get petrol at a fuel station in Islamabad on Thursday night. – Photo by author

ISLAMABAD: Due to the upcoming ‘million man march’ of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on August 14, sufferings of the residents of twin cities will be increased due to unavailability of petrol on fuel stations from Friday onwards.

Hundreds of people along with their vehicles were seen standing in long queues to get petrol in the premises of fuel pumps in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Thursday evening.

According to pump owners, it will be difficult for them to provide petrol to the consumers from Friday, August 8 to August 16 due to ‘unavailability of the petrol supply’ in this regard.


Also read: [Azadi] march madness: 7 days to go


Sources told Dawn.com that it was directions of the district administration of twin cities to the fuel station owners to suspend the supply of petrol from Friday onwards.

Despite repeated attempts, Jawad Paul, the Chief Commissioner Islamabad was not available for comments in this regard.

When contacted, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told Dawn.com that the government did not issue any directions regarding suspension of petrol supply to the pumps.

Residents said that it will be difficult for them to perform their routine work without petrol during these days.

According to few locals, the fuel station owners in the twin cities were also trying to create an artificial shortage of petrol to sell it in black market.

Analysts believe that if petrol shortage continued, the filling stations would be dry in next couple of days, which may pose serious troubles to PTI and PAT marchers.

Both these parties have announced to march on the federal capital on Independence Day to force the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to step down.

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