The highway is the most politically charged slice of a politically turbulent country.
It winds 180 miles from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, through the fertile plains of Punjab Province to Lahore, the nation’s cultural and political heart.
For centuries, it was known only as a sliver of the Grand Trunk Road, Asia’s longest and oldest thoroughfare, linking traders in Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent.
As Pakistan heads into national elections on Thursday, the road is buzzing.
Politics dominates the chatter between its vendors and rickshaw drivers, their conversations seeped in a culture of conspiracy, cults of political personality and the problems of entrenched military control.
Locations:
Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Punjab Province, Lahore, Central Asia, Pakistan