Nighat Dad, a lawyer who runs the not-for-profit Digital Rights Foundation, has said the outage of mobile and internet services “is an attack on the democratic rights of Pakistanis”.

“Shutting down mobile phone services is not a solution to national security concerns. If you shut down access to information you create more chaos,” she told AFP.

Earlier in the day, the Interior Ministry said mobile phone services had been suspended across the country owing to security concerns. It must be noted that voters rely on a text messaging service, provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan, to confirm the polling station where they are registered.

Forty-year-old Abdul Jabbar said the internet disruption stopped him and his wife from using the service. “PTI supporters helped us to trace it in the end,” he told AFP.