Friday 9 December 2011

Pakistan truckers back NATO supply route blockade


Sleeping in a freezing cab, running out of money and worried about militant attacks, Ghulab is one of thousands of truck drivers stranded as a result of Pakistan's blockade of the Afghan border to NATO and U.S. war supplies.

Pakistani fire fighters try to extinguish burning NATO oil tankers after they were allegedly torched by militants at a terminal on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan on Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. Assailants torched more than 20 tankers in Pakistan carrying fuel for U.S. and NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan, the first reported attack since Islamabad closed the border to protest coalition airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last month.
But they and the businessmen who run what has been a lucrative trade for most of the last decade say they support the decision to shut the frontier in retaliation for coalition airstrikes almost two weeks ago that killed 24 Pakistani troops in two remote border outposts.
"We risk our lives and take these supplies to Afghanistan for NATO, and in return they are killing our soldiers," said Jan, whose fuel truck is parked in a terminal in the dusty, dangerous border town of Chaman in southwestern Baluchistan.
"This is unacceptable, and we unanimously support the government over closing the border."
Given the current anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan, drivers might not want to call publicly for the border to reopen. Even so, their stance illustrates the depth of anger in this country over the attack and the challenge the U.S. faces in repairing a relationship that is critical to its hopes of ending the Afghan war.
"I hope Allah grants my prayer that this NATO supply ends permanently," said Ghaza Gul, a 45-year-old driver who has been in the trucking profession since was he was 10 years old, when he washed the vehicles and made tea. "I would rather die of hunger than carry these shipments," he said, sitting on a dirty mat with other drivers at a terminal in Karachi, the port city where the supplies are unloaded.


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