The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday summoned the Punjab home secretary and the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat Jail over the continued detention of former prime minister Imran Khan’s three sisters, despite the reported expiry of their detention orders.
The court was hearing a petition seeking the release of Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan, who were detained in September under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960.
The sisters were initially placed under preventive detention for 30 days as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) prepared for a protest march towards Islamabad.
The petition, filed by Aleema Khan’s son Shahrez Khan, maintained that the detention orders had expired on October 19 and 20, but the three women remained imprisoned at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail.
During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Abher Gul Khan questioned the petitioner’s lawyer about why the Lahore deputy commissioner had not been included as a respondent.
Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar, representing the petitioner, explained that the deputy commissioner had not been named because the detention notification issued by the official had already expired.
Uzma Khan’s husband, Ahad Khan, also approached the rostrum and requested that the deputy commissioner be summoned.
However, Justice Khan observed that the official could not be summoned because he had not been made a party to the proceedings.
The court subsequently directed the Punjab home secretary and Kot Lakhpat Jail superintendent to appear in person, along with their reports, at the next hearing scheduled for October 28.
In his petition, Shahrez Khan argued that the three sisters were being held beyond the legally authorised period of detention.
He contended that their detention was a consequence of their efforts to secure the release of their brother, Imran Khan.
The petition further argued that preventive detention could not lawfully replace ordinary criminal proceedings and that the orders violated Article 10 of the Constitution and the safeguards provided under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance.
The petitioner urged the court to direct the jail superintendent to produce the three women and “set them at liberty, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”.
He also requested that the detention orders be declared void, their operation suspended and directions issued for the sisters’ release.
The hearing was adjourned until October 28, when the summoned officials are expected to submit reports concerning the continued detention of the three women.