Motorway, G.T. Road linking KPK to Islamabad blocked

ISLAMABAD: Motorway linking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to Islamabad has been blocked with containers and barricades to stop Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers from reaching the capital to participate in the planned November 2 ‘lockdown’.

G.T. Road linking Peshawar to Islamabad has also been blocked with containers. Heavy contingents of police and FC personnel have been deployed at routes leading to Islamabad from Lahore and other cities of Punjab.

To deal with the blockades PTI workers have reportedly transported cranes and heavy machinery to Swabi camp, from where KPK Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak is to lead a rally to Bani Gala to join party chairman Imran Khan.

There is heavy presence of police on the entry roads to Bani Gala, where security personnel are demanding to check national ID cards of people and letting only the local residents through.

The government had earlier ordered to remove containers from the roads linking KPK province with Punjab after an army colonel embraced martyrdom on Saturday in an accident on the motorway.

Barricades had been placed over the weekend at certain places on the motorway as a gang of around 900 armed men attempted to enter the federal capital.