The wheels of the country may soon grind to a halt as the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) has declared a massive, indefinite nationwide shutdown of petrol pumps starting March 27. The announcement comes after failed negotiations regarding dealer profit margins, signaling a deepening rift between the government, oil companies, and local retailers. In a high-stakes press conference held on Friday, PPDA leaders Abdul Sami Khan, Amir Khan Mahsud, and Tariq Hassan laid out a grim reality for the energy sector. The association warned that if their demands for a margin increase are not met immediately, they will pull the plug on fuel supplies as early as the night of March 26.
Amir Khan Mahsud, President of the Petroleum Dealers Association Sindh, was blunt about the situation: “We cannot continue to operate a business that only yields losses. If our margins aren’t adjusted, the pumps go dark.”
The leadership accused the government of playing favorites, alleging that recent price hikes were engineered to provide billions in windfall profits to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) while completely ignoring the rising operational costs faced by individual dealers. Abdul Sami Khan took a harder line, suggesting that the era of quiet diplomacy has passed. “The time for polite conversation with the government is over,” he stated. “We are moving toward active resistance. The constant rise in petroleum levies and prices has pushed both the public and the dealers to a breaking point.”