Section 144 in Islamabad for two months, mobile and internet off on 26 and 27 September

Update, Thursday 24 September: Islamabad now has its own Section 144 order, and it runs far longer than Punjab's. Additional District Magistrate Dr Anam Fatima has banned gatherings of five or more people, processions, rallies and demonstrations anywhere in Islamabad district, including the Red Zone, for two months from 18 September. Breaking it carries up to three years in prison under the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order Act 2024. Dawn reports more than 22,000 security personnel are being deployed in the capital.

The containers police have used to block entry points are also squeezing supplies: ProPakistani reports some of the seized containers were carrying medicines and food bound for Islamabad and Rawalpindi. If you rely on a regular prescription, buy it before Friday.

If you live in Islamabad, Rawalpindi or Attock, plan for two days without a mobile signal. Punjab's Home Department has written to the federal government asking for mobile and internet services to be suspended, and for signals to be weakened, ahead of PTI's march on Islamabad. Officials say the suspension covers 26 and 27 September.

The named areas in the Punjab request are Brahma, Bahter, Taxila, Wah Sadar and Chakri, in Attock and Rawalpindi districts. Reporting on the security plan puts the blackout wider than that, covering Islamabad, Rawalpindi and parts of Attock.

PTI has called its caravans to Islamabad on 27 September, demanding the release of Imran Khan and what the party calls the supremacy of the Constitution. The caravans from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are expected to be led by the province's chief minister.

Section 144 now covers all of Punjab

Separately, the Punjab Home Secretary has imposed Section 144 across the entire province under Section 144(6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. It runs from now until 5 October.

What is banned under it:

• Gatherings, processions and assemblies of five or more people at public places, highways and open spaces
• Carrying or displaying weapons of any kind in public
• Encouraging or inciting people to join a banned gathering

What is exempt: weddings, funeral prayers and burials, mosques and other places of worship, courts and government institutions, events held with official permission, and law enforcement on duty.

The stated reason is intelligence reports of threats to public gatherings, with law enforcement agencies asking for immediate cover.

What this means for you

A mobile blackout is not only about calls. In the twin cities it takes out Careem and inDrive bookings, Easypaisa and JazzCash transfers, card machines at shops that run on mobile data, Google Maps, and the OTP messages your bank sends before a transaction. Home broadband on PTCL or a cable ISP may survive if the order stays limited to mobile networks, but the Punjab request specifically mentions internet services, so do not count on it.

Things worth doing before Friday night:

• Withdraw the cash you will need for the weekend. ATMs that run on mobile backhaul stop working first.
• Download offline maps for Islamabad and Rawalpindi in Google Maps.
• Tell family outside the twin cities that you may be unreachable, and agree a check-in time.
• If you need an OTP for anything, do it on 25 September, not on the 26th.
• Landline numbers for your doctor, your school and Rescue 1122 are worth writing on paper.

The roads are shut too

The blackout sits on top of route closures that began at 11pm on Wednesday. Motorway M-1 is closed from Islamabad Toll Plaza to Chachh Interchange, M-14 from Hakla to Kundal, and GT Road N-5 at Attock Khurd. Nearly 35,000 additional police and paramilitary personnel have been stationed in the capital, and Rangers have been called into Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Mianwali until 5 October.

If you are driving to Peshawar or Abbottabad this weekend, the detours add real distance. Work out what the extra kilometres cost at the new petrol price of Rs 390.12 a litre (24 September) with our fuel cost calculator.

We will update this page when the suspension order is formally notified, and when services come back.