Updated September 22, 2026 — Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi said on Monday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf would go ahead with its planned September 27 protest and march on Islamabad “at all costs,” demanding the release of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. Afridi said the party would announce a detailed protest plan on September 25 and that it had no intention of confrontation, with workers instructed not to carry weapons. PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said the party was not planning to “storm” Islamabad and would not take the law and order situation into its own hands. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government would not allow the protest to disrupt the capital.
The 30-day detention orders against Imran Khan’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi — were challenged in the Lahore High Court on Monday. The petition, filed by Aleema Khan’s son Shahrez Khan through lawyer Rana Mudassir, asks the court to declare the orders void and direct the sisters’ release, contending that the Lahore deputy commissioner issued them unlawfully under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. The court adjourned the hearing to September 25 to hear arguments on the petition’s maintainability; no ruling on the challenge has been reported. The claims in the petition come from the family and their counsel; authorities cited public-order concerns when issuing the detentions.
Zark News will continue to update this story as the September 27 march approaches. What to watch: whether authorities permit or block the Islamabad march, the outcome of the September 25 court hearing, and any further detentions in the coming days.
Lahore authorities have ordered Aleema Khan, the sister of jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, held for 30 days as his party prepares a march on Islamabad demanding his release.
Featured image: Minar-e-Pakistan and Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan. File photo: Syed Bilal Javaid/Unsplash.
Police detained Khan in Lahore under a preventive-detention order dated September 20, according to the district administration document reported by Reuters and reviewed by the Pakistani newspaper Dawn. The order places her in the custody of Lahore’s Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, and allows her to appeal to the provincial government.
The detention comes one week before Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, plans a September 27 protest and march to the capital. The party says the demonstration will press for Imran Khan’s release and broader political demands.
Authorities cite public-order concerns
Lahore’s district administration said the detention was necessary for public safety and the maintenance of public order. The order was issued under Punjab’s Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, a law that permits preventive detention.
Dawn reported that police took Khan to Kot Lakhpat jail. The order also named Muhammad Ameer, whose custody was likewise directed to the jail.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on September 19 that the government would seek to stop the planned march. PTI leaders condemned Khan’s detention and called for her release, arguing that the protest would be peaceful.
Zark News has not independently reviewed the intelligence assessments cited in the detention order. Claims about Khan’s conduct and risk to public order remain the authorities’ stated basis for the action, not findings adjudicated in this report.
A widening pre-protest crackdown
The detention follows other actions against PTI organizers and supporters in Punjab and Islamabad ahead of the planned demonstration. Dawn reported that preventive-detention orders were issued against dozens of party workers in Punjab, while police in Islamabad detained several PTI activists.
Imran Khan, who served as prime minister from 2018 until he was removed in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022, has remained the central figure in Pakistan’s polarized politics. His imprisonment and the government’s restrictions on his party have repeatedly brought supporters into confrontation with authorities.
The latest action raises the prospect of heightened political tension before September 27. The immediate questions are whether Khan’s family and lawyers challenge the order, how broadly authorities enforce restrictions on PTI organizers, and whether the march proceeds.
For readers outside Pakistan, the episode matters because it illustrates the continuing struggle over political participation, protest rights and state power in a nuclear-armed country of more than 240 million people. Pakistan also faces persistent economic pressures and security challenges, increasing the stakes of a renewed political confrontation.
Sources
This report is based on the Lahore district administration detention order as described by Reuters and reviewed by Dawn. Party statements and government comments are attributed to their speakers.
