LAHORE — The Punjab government has extended the detention of Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, the three sisters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, by another 30 days, a government lawyer told the Lahore High Court on Monday, according to The News.
The government lawyer submitted a report prepared by the Punjab home secretary in connection with a petition seeking the sisters’ release. He told the court that the Lahore deputy commissioner had sent a proposal recommending a further extension of the detention, and that the provincial government had approved it, extending the custody of all three women by another 30 days. The Punjab home secretary and the superintendent of Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail appeared before the court in line with its order.
Aleema Khan was detained on September 20 in Lahore under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, and shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail. Her sisters Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan were detained a day later, on September 21, also under the MPO, following a recommendation from the police. The detentions came ahead of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s planned nationwide protest, including a long march on Islamabad originally set for September 27 and later moved to October 4, to demand Imran Khan’s release and the supremacy of the Constitution.
The extension was disclosed in proceedings on a petition filed on October 20 by Aleema Khan’s son, Shahrez Khan, challenging his mother’s and aunts’ detention. At an earlier hearing, the petitioner’s counsel told the court that the original detention orders for all three sisters had expired on October 19 and 20, yet the women remained in custody. The court had summoned the home secretary and the jail superintendent to appear in person and explain the continued detention.
The PTI has condemned the prolonged detention of its founder and his family. In a party statement reported this week, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram claimed Imran Khan had spent 1,177 days in detention at Adiala Jail, including 356 days in solitary confinement, and that his wife, Bushra Bibi, had been imprisoned for more than 911 days — figures presented as the party’s claims. The party demanded that both receive their legal and constitutional rights, including regular meetings with family, lawyers and party leaders, and appropriate medical care for Imran Khan under his personal physician’s supervision. It also called for the immediate release of the three sisters, whose original 30-day detention period it said had been completed, alongside other detained PTI leaders and workers.
The case has become a test of how far preventive detention under the MPO can be extended against the family of an imprisoned opposition leader. The government has presented the detentions as a public-order measure tied to the PTI’s protest plans; the party argues preventive detention should not be used to punish political dissent. The Lahore High Court remains seized of Shahrez Khan’s petition, and the law’s next test will be whether the court accepts the fresh 30-day orders or orders the sisters’ release.
