No sign of restrictions being lifted despite information blackout and losses suffered by daily-wage earners, businesses.
Mohammed Faisal, a food delivery driver in Karachi, has lost 6,000 rupees ($20) over the past three days.
The 26-year-old relies on WhatsApp messaging service to receive and track the locations of his food orders.
He uses his trusty motorbike and a smartphone with mobile broadband internet to traverse the main roads, narrow streets, and densely populated neighbourhoods in Pakistan’s largest and most-populous city.
Since the arrest of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan three days ago, mobile internet services remain suspended across the country.
Khan was ordered to be released on Thursday, after the country’s top court termed his arrest illegal. However, the mobile broadband shutdown was not lifted.
In a metropolis where street names and house numbers are rarely used for navigation, Faisal’s work has come to a near halt without access to the internet when he is out on the road.
“I can’t get orders because mobile data isn’t working,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that he incurs fuel wastage while trying to locate addresses without navigation apps.
Security forces have blocked several roads and intersections in major cities in an attempt to deter protesters.
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