LHC Seeks Separate Plea on Noreen Niazi Care
The Lahore High Court on Friday directed the counsel for Noreen Niazi to file a separate plea seeking her medical treatment and meetings with family members. Noreen Niazi, 70, is the sister of former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan, and she is in preventive detention at Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.
Justice Abher Gul Khan issued the direction while hearing a petition filed by Sakeena Niazi. That petition challenges the extension of the preventive detention of Noreen and Dr Uzma Khan, Imran Khan’s two sisters, under the Maintenance of Public Order law.
What the court asked for
The judge asked the petitioner’s counsel whether an application had been filed seeking permission for medical treatment and meetings with family members. Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar, counsel for the petitioner, replied that an application to this effect had been submitted to the deputy commissioner.
The judge directed the counsel to also file a separate civil miscellaneous application with the court. In practical terms, that means the medical treatment and family meeting request must now be placed before the court itself, in its own application, rather than resting only on the application made to the deputy commissioner.
Noreen Niazi hospital transfer and conflicting accounts
On Wednesday evening, Noreen was shifted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) after her health deteriorated, on the recommendation of the doctors of Kot Lakhpat Jail. That transfer was covered in the Noreen Niazi hospital transfer report, which recorded the move from jail to hospital.
PTI Secretary General Advocate Salman Akram Raja, who was also present in court on Friday, claimed that Noreen was ill and had been shifted to the hospital’s intensive care unit. He added that neither her family members nor her lawyer had been allowed to meet her. He said he was unaware whether she was still in hospital or had been shifted back to jail.
The detention timeline
Imran Khan’s sisters were detained by authorities in September, under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, as the PTI geared up for a planned protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days. It would have expired on October 19 for Aleema Khan and on October 20 for Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi.
They remained in jail after those dates, and the government later informed the Lahore High Court that their detentions had been extended on October 7. On September 24, the court had turned down a request to immediately suspend the preventive detention notifications issued against Noreen and Dr Uzma Khan.
What happens next
The next step is procedural, but it matters for Noreen’s family. Once the separate civil miscellaneous application is filed, the court can hear the medical treatment and family meeting request on its own merits, without waiting for the main detention petition to conclude. That could produce a faster order on treatment and access, if the court accepts the application.
Three questions remain open. First, whether Noreen is still at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology or back at Kot Lakhpat Jail. Second, whether her family and lawyer will be allowed to meet her, and when. Third, whether the home secretary has returned and can file the response the court has sought.
Until the separate application is filed and heard, those questions stay unanswered on the record. The court’s direction does not decide the detention challenge, and it does not order Noreen’s release. It simply puts the medical and access request on a separate track, where it can be heard in its own right.
The original report on this hearing was published by Dawn, with additional detail from The Express Tribune.
What did the Lahore High Court direct?
It directed Noreen Niazi’s counsel to file a separate civil miscellaneous application seeking her medical treatment and meetings with family members.
Why was Noreen Niazi taken to hospital?
She was shifted to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology on Wednesday evening after her health deteriorated in Kot Lakhpat Jail, on the recommendation of the jail doctors.
What is the dispute over her condition?
Her counsel and PTI leaders say she was in intensive care and family members were not allowed to meet her, while Rana Sanaullah said her condition was stable, tests were normal, and relatives would be given access.
