Former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan’s sisters Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi have been detained for 30 days on Monday under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 (MPO), ahead of the party’s September 27 protest and march to Islamabad.
The Lahore Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) Office issued the detention order on September 20, stating that Uzma and Noreen were “prejudicial to the public safety and maintenance of public order.”
The order stated that the two will remain in custody under the superintendent of Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat.
According to the order, Uzma and Noreen were involved in the May 9 protest and had “motivated workers to damage public and government property.” It also accused them of mobilising workers through social media and public meetings and of raising slogans against the government and institutions in a manner that could “provoke and incite” the public.
The order also stated that multiple cases, including case No. 96/23 registered at Race Course police station, had been registered against them. It described Uzma and Noreen as “potential dangers to public peace and tranquillity” and said that their presence at public places could pose a threat to public safety and lead to a breach of public order.
The decision followed a meeting chaired by Lahore DC Muhammad Ali Ijaz on Sunday, where the matter was discussed and members endorsed the evidence presented by police, according to the order.
The MPO allows authorities to order preventive detention and places limits on judicial review of such orders.
The detention of Uzma and Noreen came a day after the Lahore DC ordered the detention or arrest of their sister Aleema Khan and a man named Muhammad Ameer for 30 days under the same law. Police sources later confirmed to a private media outlet that Aleema had been taken to Kot Lakhpat jail.
PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram, in a post on X early Monday, accused Punjab police of arresting Uzma and Noreen along with their children and Aleema’s sons. He claimed they had been placed in an armoured vehicle and were being taken to an unknown location.
PTI lawyer Awais Younas Chaudhry also confirmed that all three of Imran’s sisters had been arrested, saying that Uzma and Noreen had earlier been confined to their homes before being taken to an unknown place on Monday morning.
PTI condemned the arrests in a post on X, describing them as a “blatant abuse of authority, a violation of fundamental rights, and an act of political victimisation”. The party said the action was “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
Imran’s son Kasim Khan also alleged in a post on X that Uzma and Noreen had been “abducted”. He claimed authorities had entered the homes of his aunts and cousins and forced them into vehicles without providing a reason for the arrests or disclosing where they had been taken.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan also criticised the detentions and called for an end to political tensions. He said that the arrest of PTI parliamentarians and family members would further increase tensions and urged the state to change its course of action.
The detentions came as PTI prepares for its September 27 countrywide protest and planned march to Islamabad, with the party seeking Imran’s release from jail and calling for the supremacy of the Constitution.
In Punjab, Sahiwal police on Sunday arrested former municipal corporation mayor and ex-PTI ticket holder Asad Khan Baloch along with PTI city president Muhammad Shahid Chohan.
PTI also claimed that MNAs Sanaullah Mastikhel, Ahsan Jamal Khan and Mian Ghous had been taken into custody.
District authorities had issued preventive detention orders against dozens of PTI workers under the MPO a week earlier, including 31 people in one Punjab notification and another 14 in Toba Tek Singh. Similar reports emerged from Islamabad.
The government has said it will stop the march, while the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ruled that no political party or its leadership has the “lawful right to occupy public roads, highways, interchanges, toll plazas and buildings in Islamabad”.
