Pakistani federal and provincial officials gathered at Governor House in Karachi on Sunday in a bid to end an eight-day nationwide strike by goods transporters that has caused containers to pile up at the city's major ports. Communications Minister Abdul Aleem Khan, appointed by the prime minister as chief negotiator, and the Sindh governor led talks with representatives of the All Pakistan Goods Transport Ittehad, the umbrella body coordinating the walkout by truck drivers and edible oil tanker operators. The strikers are demanding a reduction in withholding tax on freight transport and an end to the practice of impounding vehicles found carrying contraband, but the union says it will not stand down without concrete guarantees rather than verbal assurances — a condition that has so far kept a resolution out of reach.