ISLAMABAD: A lawyer moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday against the closure of the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1) and sought directions to reopen the blocked routes for lawyers, litigants and emergency services.

The government announced the motorway’s closure earlier this week as it stepped up arrangements to prevent the PTI from marching on Islamabad.

The march was part of the party’s planned nationwide protest to demand the release of its jailed founder, Imran Khan, and mobilise people for the supremacy of the Constitution. The protest was originally planned for Sept 27, but the party has now reportedly deferred it.

Advocate Mian Shafqat Jan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, filed a petition on Friday against the government’s move to shutdown the M-1 Motorway after he was unable to reach the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to appear in a case due to the closure.

According to the petition, the lawyer was scheduled to appear before the PHC on Sept 24. He managed to enter the motorway from the Islamabad toll plaza at around 7am after facing difficulties but found the route closed at the M-1 Attock Bridge.

The petitioner said he sought information from officials deployed at the site about any written order authorising the closure but was unable to obtain a confirmation.

He contended that closing public routes without a notification, written order or disclosed reasons infringed citizens’ fundamental rights and warranted judicial intervention.

The petition named the federation through the interior and information secretaries, the inspectors general of the National Highways and Motorway Police and Islamabad Police, the National Highway Authority through its chairman, the Islamabad Capital Territory administration through the chief commissioner, and the Punjab government through its home secretary and inspector general of police as respondents.

The petitioner also referred to a recent IHC judgement about the planned PTI protest, arguing that the court had recognised constitutional protections for citizens, including freedom of movement and access to courts.

In its detailed 37-page judgement in the case pertaining to the PTI’s planned protest, the IHC held that any activity resulting in the infringement of citizens’ fundamental rights amounted to a violation of the Constitution. It also observed that the right to peaceful assembly could not be exercised in a manner that infringed the rights of other citizens.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and comprising Justice Muhammad Azam Khan and Justice Muhammad Asif, directed the authorities to ensure that no political party, leader or public office holder occupied roads, highways, interchanges or toll plazas in a manner that obstructed free movement or hindered access to medical and educational facilities.

On the basis of these arguments, Advocate Jan urged the high court in his plea to declare the closure of roads and highways without any notification, written order or disclosed reasons illegal and unconstitutional.

He has also sought directions for the interior secretary, communications secretary and Islamabad chief commissioner to ensure the reopening of blocked routes for emergency traffic, lawyers, litigants, witnesses, sick persons, funeral processions and other emergency services.

According to the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP), the M-1 has been closed to all traffic in both directions between the Islamabad Toll Plaza and Chhachh Interchange, while the M-14 was closed from Hakla to Kundal. The GT Road was also closed at Attock Khurd.

The government had also decided to close the Islamabad-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M14) — also known as the CPEC road — and GT Road.

Security arrangements were also intensified in Attock, with containers and sandbags placed at key bridges and security tightened at major entry and exit points, as authorities prepared for the PTI protest.

The federal government also approved the deployment of Rangers in Islamabad and several districts of Punjab ahead of the PTI’s planned march on the federal capital.

Punjab has already imposed a ban on gatherings across the province for 13 days and prohibited inciting people to “unlawful assembly”. A similar ban under Section 144 has been enforced in Islamabad as well for two months.

Gatherings in the federal capital are also banned under the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024, which had been rushed through the National Assembly amidst the opposition’s outcry ahead of a PTI gathering.

Meanwhile, Section 144 has also been imposed in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Balochistan.

The Punjab government had also sent a letter to the federal interior ministry requesting mobile and internet services at specific locations in Rawalpindi and Attock to be downgraded or jammed on Sept 27 due to the “expected law and order situation”.