LHC summons Punjab home secretary, jail chief over Imran Khan’s sisters’ detention

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday summoned Punjab’s home secretary and the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail to appear in person with reports on a petition seeking the release of three sisters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, whose lawyer said they had been kept in custody despite the expiry of their detention orders.

LHC Justice Abher Gul Khan directed the officials to appear before the court on October 28. The petition, filed by Shahrez Khan, the son of Imran’s sister Aleema Khan, has sought the production and release of Aleema, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi.

The three sisters remain in custody at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail despite the expiry of their 30-day detention orders, their lawyer Rana Mudassar Umar told the court.

He said the orders expired on October 19 and 20 respectively.

They were detained under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960, ahead of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s planned but aborted march on Islamabad last month.

During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Khan asked the petitioner’s counsel why he had not made the Lahore deputy commissioner a respondent in the case, given that the official had issued the detention orders.

Umar replied that the deputy commissioner had not been included because the detention notification had expired.

Uzma Khan’s husband, Ahad Khan, then approached the rostrum and asked the court to summon the deputy commissioner. The judge said the official could not be summoned in the proceedings because he had not been made a party to the petition, and directed the lawyer to satisfy Ahad Khan on the point.

The court adjourned the proceedings until October 28 and ordered the home secretary and the Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent to appear in person with their reports.

In the petition filed on Wednesday, Shahrez Khan argued that continued detention after the expiry of the orders was unlawful and violated the women’s fundamental rights. He asked the court to direct the jail superintendent to produce the three sisters before it and order their release.

The petition said the women were not wanted in any criminal case and alleged that their detention was linked to their efforts to secure the release of their brother, who has been in prison since August 2023.

It argued that preventive detention could not be used as a substitute for proceedings under ordinary criminal law and challenged the orders on constitutional grounds, citing Article 10 of the Constitution and safeguards under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance.

The petitioner also asked the court to declare the detention orders invalid and suspend their operation.

Authorities detained Aleema Khan on September 20, while Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were detained the following day.

The Lahore High Court has previously heard petitions concerning the detentions and the provision of basic necessities to the women in jail.