GILGIT: The transporters of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday went on an indefinite wheel-jam strike to protest against the convoy system on the Karakoram Highway.

The strike stranded thousands of passengers travelling between GB and other parts of the country.

The strike call has been given jointly by transporters associations of Kohistan and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Talking to Dawn, GB transporters` association general secretary Ashraf Ali Hussaini said that the convoy system introduced in 2012 was a security risk and caused inconvenience to people. He explained that under the convey system a group of 70 vehicles escorted by police was allowed to depart from Mensehra district of KP to GB and vice versa from Juglot area of Gilgit during the daytime.

Mr Hussaini said that journey between GB and Rawalpindi usually took a day, but now the same distance was travelled in two to three days following introduction of the convoy system.

He alleged that public transport were stopped at various checkposts on the KKH, making the journey even more troublesome.

`The convoy system has also become a security risk for passengers as several people were murdered at Kohistan, Chilas and Lolosar incidents,` he said, adding that only one or two police mobiles escorted the convoy of 60 to 70 vehicles.

Mohammad Tahir, president of Kohistan transporters` association, said the government should establish more checkposts on the road and abolish the convoy system. He appealed to people to avoid travelling on KKH till their demands were not accepted.

Mohammad Ali, an office-bearer of the Baltistan transporters association, said most victims of the convoy system were the passengers from Baltistan, as they completed the journey to Rawalpindi in three days.

ARRESTED: Police on Wednesday registered cases against seven officebearers of Gilgit-Baltistan chapter of Majlis-iWahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) for protesting against the Pakistan government for what they said planning to send troops to Yemen.

An official at Gilgit city police station said the activists had been booked under sections of PPC and ATA for using derogatory remarks during their speeches in a protest rally held in Gilgit city on Monday.

The booked MWM office-bearers included Sheikh Bilal Shumayari, Sheikh Nayyar Abbas, Ghulam Abbas, Arif Qanbari, Sheikh Essa, Sheikh Shahadat and Jamal Haider.