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World

Pakistan seals roads into Islamabad ahead of PTI march for Imran Khan's release

Pakistan will shut the Islamabad–Peshawar and Islamabad–Dera Ismail Khan motorways and the Grand Trunk Road from Wednesday evening to stop a PTI protest march on the capital planned for 27 September.

By James Calloway · · Updated · 1 min read

The Faisal Mosque in Islamabad, its four minarets set against the Margalla Hills.
Photo: Advertbalcha, via Wikimedia Commons · source

Pakistan will close three major road routes into Islamabad from Wednesday evening to stop a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protest march planned for 27 September, police said.

The Islamabad–Peshawar Motorway (M1), the Islamabad–Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M14) and the Grand Trunk Road will shut from Wednesday evening. Dawn reported the closures would be indefinite: the M1 between the Islamabad Toll Plaza and the Chhachh Interchange, the M14 between Hakla and Kundal, and the GT Road at Attock Khurd.

Around 2,000 shipping containers have been placed around the capital and at Attock Bridge, with containers and sandbags also at Haroon Bridge. About 30,000 security personnel are deployed across Attock district.

The march demands the release of party founder Imran Khan, jailed since August 2023; all but one of his convictions has been suspended or overturned on appeal, and concern has grown over his right eye. Caravans are expected from Karachi, some 1,150km (715 miles) away, and Lahore, about 270km (170 miles) away.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder in Islamabad said the government had told the PTI to reconsider; the party says peaceful protest is its constitutional right. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned on Monday: “We have clearly told them that they can never achieve anything through such drama” — “there is still time; they should not go into this situation.”

Background: Khan’s sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were detained on Sunday under public order laws, and Jamaat-e-Islami postponed its own march to Islamabad at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s request.

Sources

More on this topic: all World stories

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