Reporting snapshot · 23 September 2026. The government has decided to close the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1), the Islamabad-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14), also known as the CPEC road, and the Grand Trunk Road (N-5) to all traffic for an indefinite period from Wednesday evening to prevent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supporters from reaching the federal capital on 27 September. The account rests on the National Highways and Motorway Police and Islamabad Traffic Police advisories as reported by Dawn and the Associated Press of Pakistan, with independent confirmation from Al Jazeera and The Express Tribune. No reopening date has been announced; this is a dated snapshot, not a live tracker.
What happened
The government has decided to close the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1), the Islamabad-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M-14) — also known as the CPEC road — and the Grand Trunk Road (N-5) for an indefinite period from Wednesday evening, according to a National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) spokesperson reported by Dawn. A separate Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) advisory, reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan, says the closures take effect at 11pm on Wednesday, 23 September, until further notice.
The decision extends the lockdown of the capital’s road network announced a day earlier, when Islamabad Traffic Police advised that the Peshawar Motorway (M-1) would close from 11pm Wednesday. Wednesday’s advisories go considerably further, closing the M-14 and the GT Road as well and spelling out the interchanges that will be shut, with the aim of stopping supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan from marching on the capital on 27 September, an event the PTI has been planning for months.
Which roads are closed, and which stay open
According to the NHMP statement reported by Dawn, the M-1 motorway will remain closed to all types of traffic in both directions between the Islamabad Toll Plaza and the Chhachh Interchange. The M-14 motorway will be closed in both directions from Hakla to Kundal, and the GT Road (N-5) will be closed in both directions at Attock Khurd. Sources told Dawn the roads would remain closed until further notice. The Islamabad Traffic Police advisory, as reported by APP, lists the affected sections in more detail: the M-1 from Haroon Bridge; the M-14 from Kani Bridge near the Tarap Interchange in Mianwali police’s jurisdiction; the E-35 Hazara Motorway from the Hazara Interlink near Burhan; the N-5 GT Road at Attock Khurd; the Rawalpindi-Kohat Road from Khushal Garh; and the Abbottabad-Hassanabdal Road from the Jhari Kas Checkpost.
The advisory also lists the interchanges that will be shut on the M-1 and M-14. One key route stays open: the M-2 motorway between Islamabad and Lahore will stay open, the ITP advisory and The Express Tribune say.
Why Attock is the focus
The closures concentrate on Attock, the Punjab district bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, because it provides the principal road links between the province, northern Punjab and the Islamabad-Rawalpindi region. Dawn reported that Hazro and the surrounding bridges are a key focal point of preparations for the march, and that authorities have placed containers and sandbags at Attock Bridge and Haroon Bridge, the two major crossings between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Security has been tightened at other entry and exit points, including the Chhachh and Ghazi interchanges, with almost 30,000 personnel deployed in the district, Dawn reported. Al Jazeera, citing Dawn, reported that about 2,000 shipping containers have been placed around the capital and at Attock Bridge.
PTI’s response and a divided strategy
The closures come as PTI’s leadership prepares to launch the march from Peshawar on 27 September. The Express Tribune reported that PTI has been revising its strategy, with differences emerging over whether to move directly towards Islamabad or stage sit-ins along the Punjab border first.
Under a proposal discussed at a parliamentary party meeting in Peshawar, supporters would stage sit-ins at the Attock Bridge, near Hazro on the motorway, in Haripur, at Khushalgarh in Kohat and in Nathia Gali, before considering a move towards Islamabad in the first week of October. Some lawmakers opposed confining the 27 September protest to sit-ins and argued the convoy should proceed to the capital the same day. The meeting failed to reach a consensus, and the party is expected to finalise its strategy at another meeting on 25 September.
Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar have described the planned protest as a “Test match” rather than a “T20”, signalling that the party expects an extended campaign. A convoy led by Afridi is expected to travel from Peshawar along the Grand Trunk Road to Attock, with the onward strategy to be announced on 25 September.
The government has warned that it will enforce the law if the march proceeds. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told the PTI on Monday that “we have clearly told them that they can never achieve anything through such drama”, and the federal government says it will implement an Islamabad High Court order barring parties from occupying public roads. The standoff over the protest remains unresolved, with negotiations between the two sides continuing.
Why it matters
The indefinite closure of three of the most important routes linking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with Islamabad and Punjab affects far more than the protesters it is meant to stop. The M-1 is the principal corridor between Peshawar, the northern areas and the capital; the M-14 is the CPEC road connecting Islamabad with southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and the GT Road remains a vital alternative for freight and everyday travel. Closing them with no announced reopening date will force thousands of travellers and truckers onto longer detours and, together with the container barricades and police cordons at Attock, signals that the government expects the confrontation around 27 September to be prolonged.
The closures also sharpen the political stakes. The government frames its lockdown as the enforcement of court orders and the protection of public movement, while the PTI describes the road blocks as an attempt to suppress its constitutional right to protest. With the party’s own leadership divided over whether to press for the capital on 27 September or dig in at the border first, the closures have already shaped the timetable of the opposition’s response.
What is still uncertain
The most important open questions are when the roads will reopen and whether the closures will be extended. The advisories give no reopening date, and the authorities have not formally stated how long the restrictions will last, describing them only as “until further notice”. It is also unclear whether the M-2, which remains open, will stay open if the march converges on the capital from other directions.
How PTI responds also remains unsettled. The party has not announced whether its 27 September convoy will press towards Islamabad through the blocked corridors, shift to the open M-2 route, or hold at the Punjab-border sit-in points. Officials have not commented publicly on the advisories beyond the statements quoted above. The picture will change as 27 September approaches, and this article is a dated snapshot of the position as of the evening of 23 September.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 23 September 2026. The account of the closures rests on the National Highways and Motorway Police spokesperson's statement and the Islamabad Traffic Police advisory as reported by Dawn and the Associated Press of Pakistan, with independent confirmation from Al Jazeera and The Express Tribune. No official reopening date has been announced.
- Dawn — KP motorways, GT Road 'closed indefinitely'23 September 2026 · Primary account of the decision to close the M-1, M-14 and GT Road indefinitely from Wednesday evening, the NHMP statement on affected sections and interchanges, and the security build-up around Attock.
- Al Jazeera — Pakistan seals roads to Islamabad before protests for Imran Khan's release23 September 2026 · Independent confirmation of the closures, their stated purpose, the container deployment and the deployment of about 30,000 security personnel in Attock.
- The Express Tribune — M-1 Motorway closed indefinitely23 September 2026 · Independent confirmation of the M-1 closure from 11pm, the decision that the M-2 remains open, and PTI's internal debate over the route and timing of the 27 September march.
- Associated Press of Pakistan — M-1 Motorway to close for all traffic from 11pm Wednesday, M-2 to remain open22 September 2026 · Primary record of the earlier advisory closing the M-1 from 11pm on 23 September and confirming the M-2 remains open; context for the expanded closures.
- Associated Press of Pakistan (via UrduPoint) — M-1, M-14, Hazara Motorway, GT Road among routes to close from 11pm: ITP23 September 2026 · The Islamabad Traffic Police advisory as carried by APP, listing the affected routes and interchanges from 11pm until further notice.
