A number of Pakistani lawmakers have introduced a motion that calls for a ban on oil supplies to US-led NATO forces stationed in neighboring Afghanistan.
The lawmakers, from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, submitted the motion to the upper house of the Parliament (Senate) on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Khurshid Ahmad, Muhammad Ibrahim Khan and Aafia Zia, who co-authored the motion, demanded the immediate halt of oil supply to NATO forces and called for a debate on the issue in the Pakistani Parliament.
The motion states that tax-free supply of oil to NATO troops in Afghanistan have been ongoing since the presidency of former General Prevez Musharraf.
The lawmakers expressed their “extreme displeasure” over the fact that the Pakistani public pays a 30-rupee per liter tax on gasoline while NATO troops receive oil supplies tax free.
“The NATO troops who are engaged in genocide and brutalities on unarmed and innocent civilians of Afghanistan and continue to conduct drone attacks inside Pakistani territories are being charged an outrageously low 42-rupee per liter, compared to 73-rupee per liter for masses at home,” they said.
Pakistan is the main supply route for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan who receive up to 80 percent of their supplies via routes that pass through Khyber region in northwestern Pakistan and the southwestern Chaman border crossing in Balochistan.
Suspected militants, however, frequently attack oil tankers and trucks transferring oil and goods to NATO bases in Afghanistan.
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