IHC issues notices in response to plea against closure of Motorway (M-1)

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices in a petition filed against the closure of the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M-1), seeking the court’s directions for reopening of the blocked routes for lawyers, litigants and emergency services.

A single bench of Justice Muhammad Asif on Monday heard a petition filed by Advocate Mian Shafqat Jan, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, against the government’s move to shut down the M-1 Motorway after he was unable to reach the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to appear in a case.

Justice Asif issued notices to the respondents with the direction to file para-wise comments before the next date of hearing and deferred the hearing of the case for two weeks.

In his petition, he prayed to the court to declare that any closure or restriction of the said routes which is not imposed by or under a law, or which is not reasonable and proportionate to a legitimate public- interest aim, including any closure that is indefinite or that makes no provision for emergency and essential travel, is without lawful authority and of no legal effect, violating Articles 4, 15, 18 and 25 of the Constitution.

“Direct the Respondents to remove or modify any closure so declared and to restore ordinary civilian passage on the said routes, subject only to such targeted, time-bound and reasoned measures as are imposed under a law and shown to this Court to be necessary,” requested the petition.

He further requested to direct the Respondents to frame and notify, within such period as this Court may fix, standard operating procedures requiring that any future closure of a road route between the Islamabad Capital Territory and a Province, in anticipation of a march or assembly; be made by a written and reasoned order of the competent authority under an identified law, be time-bound and published, contain exemptions for essential travel, and be subject to periodic review.

The petitioner has cited 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 contended that he 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.

Advocate Jan said that he sought information from officials deployed at the site about any written order authorising the closure but was unable to obtain confirmation. He adopted the stance that closing public routes without a notification, written order, or disclosed reasons infringed citizens’ fundamental rights and warranted judicial intervention. The petitioner also referred to a recent IHC judgment about the planned PTI protest, arguing that the court had recognised constitutional protections for citizens, including freedom of movement and access to courts.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026