LAHORE (Daily Pakistan) – Imran Khan’s sisters are back home after Punjab government withdrew detention orders against them, ending weeks of confinement in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail.
Dr. Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were released after the orders issued under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance were taken back, their lawyer, Rana Mudassar, confirmed. But the relief is only partial: Aleema Khan, the third sister, is still being held in jail.
All three women were taken into custody in September 2026, just as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was gearing up to march to Islamabad to press its demands. Aleema Khan was detained on September 20, while Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were picked up a day later, on September 21, under the 1960 MPO Ordinance, widely known as 3 MPO. Their detention was first approved for 30 days, and on October 7 it was extended by another 30 days at Kot Lakhpat.
In September 20 order, DC Lahore raised concerns over the activities of Noreen Niazi and Dr. Uzma Khan. The police case accused the two women of involvement in the May 9 protests and road blockades, of urging workers to damage government and public property, and of trying to mobilise party workers again through social media and public gatherings.
3MPO, the law under which the sisters were held, gives the authorities wide powers to place people in preventive detention if they are seen as a threat to public safety or order.
A person can be held for a fixed period, which can be extended, though not beyond six consecutive months at a time, and any detention running past three months requires judicial oversight. Those detained can challenge the order before the provincial government.
Imran Khan’s sister Noreen Niazi shifted to cardiology hospital from Lahore jail
News Desk
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