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Iran says it will allow ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz during its two-week ceasefire with the U.S. That is a major win for Pakistan, whose prime minister and army chief were credited by Iran's foreign minister and President Trump with helping broker the deal. It's also a hopeful sign for Pakistanis battered by weeks of rising fuel costs, especially in some parts of the country where diesel and gasoline smuggled from Iran have become scarcer and more expensive. Betsy Joles in Islamabad has more.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: Hazarganji is the transit point for Iranian fuel coming into Balochistan's capital, Quetta. Suppliers arrive at this market loaded down with suitcase-sized plastic containers full of gasoline and diesel.
(SOUNDBITE OF GASOLINE SWISHING)
JOLES: This fuel is sold at roadside stalls and even gas stations around Balochistan, a province where economic conditions for many are dire.
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JOLES: Transporter Dawood Khan (ph) is used to traveling up to seven times a day to pick up Iranian fuel from a hub for it near Quetta. But since the war started, he says there's less fuel coming across the border. So now one trip a day is all that makes sense. He says it's not easy to find work in Balochistan, which is why many are involved in smuggling Iranian fuel.
DAWOOD KHAN: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: "If this stops, what are people going to do?" he asks.
(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANKING)
JOLES: Truck driver Naseebullah Ababaki (ph) tinkers with his gearbox in a nearby garage. His long-haul journeys around Pakistan are made possible by Iranian fuel, but sellers in the province have begun stockpiling and charging more for it. And using pricey Pakistani diesel is out of the question.
NASEEBULLAH ABABAKI: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: "We can't drive with this diesel, so we'll have to stop running the car out of necessity," he says. Last week, Pakistan hiked fuel prices for the second time since the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran began. The hike brought gasoline prices up to around $6 per gallon, and diesel prices rose to more than 7. This is in a country where many struggle to afford the basics, says Khalid Waleed, an energy economist at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad.
KHALID WALEED: You are reducing your transport expenditure. Or you are taking it from your health budget or your education budget or your food budget. That is a very difficult decision in Pakistan right now.
JOLES: Government reduced the price of gasoline somewhat days later. It also promised targeted subsidies to make things easier for some, including riders of motorbikes, the most common form of transportation in Pakistan. But managing public sentiment is only one of the things the government needs to worry about.
WALEED: If this war goes on, then Pakistan's economy suffers tremendously. They don't have the reserves and the financing needed to sustain this.
JOLES: Uzair Younus is a partner at The Asia Group in Washington, D.C. He says high import bills will affect the country's foreign reserves, hurting the currency and fueling inflation. Pakistan is already under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to raise revenue and get its economy in shape. So its leaders pushed hard for a ceasefire, hoping it will ease prices.
UZAIR YOUNUS: If they don't ease, then Pakistan will be very quickly out of money.
JOLES: Back in Quetta, people are looking for relief anywhere they can find it. Abid Hayat (ph), who works at a local shop in the city selling eggs, relies on Iranian fuel for his commute. He's worried he'll now have to make a change.
ABID HAYAT: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: "We might have to sell the motorbike and go back to using a bicycle," he says.
With Saadullah Akhter in Quetta, for NPR News, I'm Betsy Joles in Islamabad.
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