M-1 to Close for All Traffic from 11pm Wednesday

ISLAMABAD: The Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) will be shut to all traffic from 11pm on Wednesday, September 23, until further orders, Islamabad Traffic Police said on Tuesday. The federal capital's traffic police advised motorists from Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other districts to postpone unnecessary journeys and avoid the M-1.

ARY News reported, citing sources, that the federal government ordered the closure ahead of a planned protest by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in Islamabad. The Lahore-Islamabad Motorway (M-2) will remain open for all types of traffic, the channel said.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi warned PTI leaders against another sit-in during a press conference in Lahore, ARY News said. Naqvi said the government would enforce the law strictly and would not allow the capital or the country to be brought to a standstill.

"I clearly tell the PTI leadership not to push itself into a dead end," the minister said, according to ARY News. He said such political tactics would achieve nothing and urged the party to reconsider its approach.

Naqvi said several members of the PTI leadership did not want a politics based on sit-ins. He added that if PTI went ahead with a sit-in, the government would implement the orders of the Islamabad High Court.

"This time, it will not be possible for them to come to Islamabad and shut down the country for 10 days," Naqvi said. He said the government would formulate a permanent course of action and would not leave the matter unresolved.

On the PTI founder's demand for a medical examination, Naqvi said the party had asked for an examination at a hospital. He said the founder was present at the hospital the previous night and had undergone a check-up. The minister said the government would proceed according to law, not according to the wishes of PTI members.

The Islamabad Traffic Police's advisory did not mention the protest as the reason for the closure in the APP report. APP quoted an ITP official as saying that commuters should avoid travelling towards the M-1 and postpone unnecessary journeys.