LAHORE: The son of Aleema Khan, detained sister of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday, seeking the production and release of his mother, as well as two aunts.
All three of Imran’s sisters — Aleema, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan — were detained by authorities in September, under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, as the PTI geared up of for a planned protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days.
Aleema’s son, Shahrez Khan, filed a fresh plea challenging their detention in the LHC on Wednesday.
The petition stated that Imran’s sisters remained at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail despite the lapse of the 30-day period of their detention.
The Punjab home secretary (grievance redressal commissioner), the inspector general of police, the Lahore capital city police officer and the Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent have been named as respondents.
The petition, filed through Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar, said the sisters’ detention orders were issued on Sept 20 and expired on Oct 19, yet the jail authorities had not released them despite requests.
“Therefore, detention of the detenues is against the law and fundamental rights of the individuals,” it contended.
The plea further said that the three sisters were not wanted in any case, and raised concerns that they may be implicated in “false criminal cases” if not released.
The petition argued that their detention was a consequence of their efforts for their brother’s release. It further contended that the preventive detention could not replace ordinary criminal law, and that the order violated Article 10 as well as the safeguards of Section 3 of the MPO.
The petitioner requested the court to direct the jail superintendent to produce the detainees before the court and “set them at liberty, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”. He asked the court to declare the detention orders void and issue directives for the detainees’ release, while suspending the operation of the orders.
The petition has been fixed for Thursday before Justice Abher Gul Khan.