LAHORE: The son of Aleema Khan has moved the Lahore High Court for the release of Imran Khan’s sisters, a day after their 30-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance expired.
Shahrez Khan filed the petition on Wednesday through Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar. He asked the court to order the production of his mother, Aleema Khan, and his aunts Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan before the court and set them at liberty.
The petition states that the three sisters were detained on Sept 20 under Section 3 of the MPO, 1960, as the PTI geared up for a protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days, and the period lapsed on Oct 19. Yet the women remain at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail despite requests for their release.
“Therefore, detention of the detenues is against the law and fundamental rights of the individuals,” the petition contends.
The Punjab home secretary, the inspector general of police, the Lahore capital city police officer and the Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent have been named as respondents.
Imran Khan sisters’ detention challenged on legality
The petition states that the sisters are not wanted in any criminal case, and voices apprehension that they could face “false criminal cases” if not released promptly.
It further argues that their detention was a consequence of their campaign for their brother’s release, and that preventive detention cannot substitute for ordinary criminal law. The plea contends that the orders violate Article 10 of the Constitution and the safeguards of Section 3 of the MPO.
The petitioner asked the court to declare the detention orders void, suspend their operation, and direct the jail superintendent to produce the detainees and release them. The petition has been fixed for hearing on Thursday before Justice Abher Gul Khan, Dawn reported.
Part of a wider pre-march crackdown
The detention of the three sisters formed part of a wider preventive-detention drive ahead of the PTI’s planned march on Islamabad, as authorities across Punjab leaned on the MPO to hold political workers without trial.
Feature Pakistan reported earlier this month that a family member said the sisters had gone on a hunger strike during their detention. Their continued detention after the expiry of the orders adds a fresh legal dimension to the case.
The same instrument has been used elsewhere in recent days. A Bannu MNA was handed a 30-day detention under an MPO order earlier this week, a parallel that the petition’s arguments on the limits of preventive detention may end up testing in court as well. Courts have been active on this front: the Peshawar High Court stayed the arrest of the KP Assembly’s deputy speaker and ordered his official residence de-sealed in a separate case this week.
What Section 3 of the MPO allows
Section 3 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, lets the government detain a person to prevent acts prejudicial to public safety or public order. The detention is preventive rather than punitive, and courts have repeatedly held it to be an exceptional measure, not a routine tool. The petition leans on that jurisprudence: whatever the original justification, keeping the sisters in jail after Oct 19 has no basis in law.
What happens next
Justice Abher Gul Khan will take up the petition on Thursday. The court could order the production of the detainees, call for replies from the respondents, or rule directly on the legality of the continued detention.
For the PTI, the case is about more than three individuals. The party has framed the detentions as part of a broader campaign against its leadership and their families, a theme that also surfaced in the security-breach case against Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, where an anti-terrorism court appointed a state counsel for the couple this week. The court’s decision will settle, at least for now, which reading of the law stands.
Who filed the plea for the release of Imran Khan’s sisters?
Shahrez Khan, the son of Aleema Khan, filed the petition in the Lahore High Court through Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar. He seeks the production and release of his mother and two aunts.
When were Imran Khan’s sisters detained?
The three sisters, Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan, were detained on Sept 20 under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, ahead of a PTI protest march towards Islamabad.
When did their 30-day detention expire?
According to the petition, the detention orders were issued on Sept 20 and expired on Oct 19. The sisters nevertheless remain at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.
When will the LHC hear the case?
The petition has been fixed for hearing on Thursday before Justice Abher Gul Khan.
