PESHAWAR: The extended closure of the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) by the PTI activists heaped distress on commuters, transporters and merchants.
The ruling occasion’s leaders and employees have closed M-1 at Swabi relaxation space since final Friday to demand early therapy of their incarcerated chief, Imran Khan, for “imaginative and prescient loss”.
The closure of M-1, the primary artery connecting Peshawar with the remainder of the nation, has put the Grand Trunk Street, the opposite main highway, beneath immense pressure because the uncared for freeway is unable to cater to the site visitors diverted from the motorway.
Additionally, the GT Street is dealing with closures by PTI activists, inflicting huge inconvenience to folks touring to attend pressing enterprise conferences and exams, take worldwide flights from Islamabad airport and search therapy. The businessmen, whose provides have gotten caught alongside the highway, are additionally distressed.
Businessmen surprise why PTI govt troubling folks of KP
Jan Mulk, a businessman, who was touring from Islamabad to Peshawar on Sunday night, informed Daybreak that he left Islamabad at round 4:30pm and reached Attock at round 6:30pm earlier than discovering himself caught in an enormous site visitors jam at Attock crossing.
“Tons of of automobiles had been caught in an extended site visitors grid lock and there was not even any option to flip again,” he stated.
The businessman stated that the Attock site visitors gridlock compelled him to return and spend the evening in Islamabad earlier than coming to Peshawar subsequent morning.
“There have been ladies, kids and aged, with numerous them being on foot because of highway closure and unavailability of public transport,” he stated.
Mr Mulk stated transporters in Attock had been charging commuters Rs1,000 for a visit to Rawalpindi.
Khan Zaman Afridi, president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transporters Affiliation, informed Daybreak that highway closures had made life troublesome for transports.
“Practically 3,000 automobiles depart Peshawar Basic Bus Stand each day however the quantity has dropped to round 1500 because of highway closures,” he stated.
Mr Afridi stated nearly all public transport used the M-1 and now its closure has diverted all of the site visitors to the GT Street and a ordinary journey of two to 3 hours on the motorway was taking on 10 hours on the GT Street.
“GT Street will not be previous GT Street and is stuffed with potholes and stuffed with vans, Qingqi motorcycle-rickshaws and push carts, so it is extremely troublesome to traverse and now, all the motorway site visitors has been diverted to it, inflicting huge site visitors snarl,” he stated.
Mr. Afridi stated that because of the highway closures, many individuals had stopped touring, and commuter arrivals at bus stands had nearly halved as solely individuals who needed to attend pressing enterprise conferences traveled in compulsion.
“It’s ironic that the KP authorities is inflicting ache by itself folks,” he stated.
A consultant of Faisal Movers informed Daybreak that his transport firm had stopped its Peshawar-Islamabad operations because the begin of the M-1 closure.
Junaid Altaf, president of KP Chamber of Commerce and Business, questioned the rationale for the motorway closure.
“Who’re they troubling? Is it the folks of KP or residents of Punjab and Sindh who’re being affected because of the M-1 closure?”
Mr. Altaf stated that KP chief minister and his cupboard had been sitting in Islamabad for the previous many days, leaving their places of work and official duties unattended.
He stated that the extended closure of Pak-Afghan border factors had already ruined the province’s enterprise neighborhood and now, the politicians didn’t perceive that the vehicles stranded on the highway to KP carried uncooked materials to factories within the province and extended closure was hurting the enterprise neighborhood in addition to the economic system of the province.
“If PTI thinks the folks of KP deserve this for voting them to the powers, then it’s okay and we deserve it,” he stated.
Malik Sohni, president of All Pakistan Agriculture Produce Merchants Federation, informed Daybreak that highway closures had resulted in an over 10pc improve within the vegetable costs within the provincial capital.
He stated that within the present season, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, okra, garlic, peas and leafy greens had been transported from Punjab to Peshawar.
Mr. Sohni stated that as greens had been perishable, extended blockages not solely prompted spoilage but additionally drove the costs up.
“Costs robotically go up when contemporary provides do not attain on time,” he stated.
Revealed in Daybreak, February seventeenth, 2026
