SUKKUR: Negotiations with operators of oil tankers and truckers who have been keeping the intercity route at Jacobabad bypass blocked since Wednesday failed to bring an end to their protest against what they described as `excesses by police and Rangers`.

A large number of oil tankers and trucks were parked at the bypass on Wednesday to block the National Highway in protest against seizure of oil carried by them in addition to their consignment.

Several rounds of talks between senior police officials of the district and the protesters led by transport operators Ghulam Rasool Brohi, Allah Bakhsh Jakhrani and Mir Amanullah Khan Pathan and supportedby Sindh-Balochistan Transport Ittehad president Haji Noor Jahan Khan Shahwani, All Pakistan Oil Tankers Association leader Shams Shahwani and Jacobabad Chamber of Commerce president Mir Ahmed Ali Brohl since the start of the protest have failed to get the highway cleared. The blockade has resulted in a serious disruption in oil supplies from Balochistan to Sindh and Punjab through this route.

The protesters complained that the police and Rangers` officials manning the checkposts at the bypass had long been seizing the `extra oil` although they were allowed to carry a certain quantity under a long-standing understanding with the officials concerned. They argued that they were incurring losses due to the partial or total seizure of the extra oil. The situation created by theblockade turned serious on Friday when the number of vehicles stuck in queues behind the parked tankersand trucks onthe upand down tracks of the bypass increased to several hundred.

Jacobabad Deputy Commissioner Agha Shahnawaz Babar visited the spot on Thursday evening to assure leaders of the protesters that he would plead their case with the higher authorities, including those of Rangers, but the protesters refused to lift the blockade on mere promises.

Taking notice of the situation, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah asked Transport Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah to look into the matter and get the issue resolved, sources said, adding that on the minister`s initiative, Larkana DIG and Jacobabad SSP intervened tohelp end the protest.

Later, DIG Abdullah Shaikh convened a meeting in his office to hear grievance of the protesters in the presence of senior Rangers, police and customs officials. The Jacobabad assistant commissioner also attended the meeting.

Sources privy to the negotiations said that the transport operators were told that they would be allowed to carry a maximum of 200 litres of extra oil and any excess quantity found on board any of their vehicles would be seized.

However, the sources said, the transport operators appeared not satisfied with the offer and decided to continue with their protest. The DIG was quoted as saying that the matter would be referred to the higher authorities.