Aleema Khan Detained for 30 Days Under MPO Order in Lahore

Aleema Khan, sister of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan, was detained in Lahore on Sunday after the city's deputy commissioner issued an order for her detention or arrest for 30 days under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960. The development came a week before PTI's planned September 27 protest, which the party says will press for Imran Khan's release and other political demands.

The September 20 detention order issued by Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Ali Ijaz cited recommendations from police and intelligence officials and stated that Aleema was considered a potential threat to public safety and the maintenance of public order. The order directed that her custody be placed under the superintendent of Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, while providing her the option of making a representation to the provincial government against the detention.

Authorities based the order on police reports referring to her alleged involvement in previous protests and accusing her of mobilising workers ahead of renewed political activity. Those assertions form part of the government's stated justification for preventive detention and have not been independently established through the detention order itself. The order also named another individual, Muhammad Ameer, for detention under the same legal framework.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said he was informed of Aleema's detention by another of Imran Khan's sisters. He maintained that PTI intended to conduct its upcoming protest peacefully and criticised the detention as an action that could increase political tension. Other party representatives demanded Aleema's immediate release and said the party would formulate a response to the authorities' actions.

Accounts of the circumstances surrounding the detention initially differed. Family and party representatives said Aleema was intercepted after leaving her residence in Lahore, while the formal detention order provided the legal basis for authorities to hold her under the Maintenance of Public Order framework. Police and a government spokesperson did not immediately provide a separate response when approached for comment following reports of the arrest.

The detention comes amid heightened preparations surrounding PTI's September 27 mobilisation toward Islamabad. Authorities have taken preventive measures ahead of the planned protest, while PTI has said its campaign will focus on political and constitutional demands, including the release of its jailed founder. Officials have also previously detained party workers under public-order provisions and stepped up security arrangements around the federal capital.

The immediate legal focus is expected to be on whether Aleema challenges the detention order through the administrative or judicial avenues available to her. Politically, the case adds another point of tension between PTI and the authorities ahead of the September 27 protest, with both sides presenting sharply different accounts of the risks surrounding the planned mobilisation. Further developments will depend on any legal challenge, official response from Punjab authorities and decisions concerning the duration and enforcement of the detention order.