Two sisters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan were released from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on Thursday after the Punjab government withdrew the detention orders that had kept them in prison since September. Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi left the jail at 2pm local time, their lawyer said, ending 53 days in custody without any formal charge or trial, according to their family.
The release was confirmed by the sisters' lawyer, Rana Mudassar, who told the AFP news agency that the government had withdrawn their joint detention order, and by Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which said the move did not erase the suffering inflicted on the family. PTI lawyer Taimur Malik said the two women had been freed upon the withdrawal of what he called their unlawful detention order under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law.
A third sister, Aleema Khan, remains in Kot Lakhpat Jail under a separate detention order, and her lawyers are seeking the withdrawal of that order too. The jail superintendent, Chaudhry Ijaz Asghar, confirmed to The Express Tribune that Aleema Khan remained incarcerated, while her two sisters had been released.
All three sisters were detained in September under Section 3 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, as the PTI prepared for a planned protest march towards Islamabad to demand Imran Khan's release. Aleema Khan was detained on 20 September, while Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi were taken into custody on 21 September. The Lahore deputy commissioner issued the initial 30-day detention orders.
The detention orders were later extended for another 30 days, a decision the sisters challenged in the Lahore High Court. On 22 October, the court summoned the Punjab home secretary and the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat Jail over the continued detention of the sisters despite the expiry of their first 30-day orders. On 26 October, the court disposed of a petition for their release after the Punjab government confirmed that the detention had been extended.
According to their lawyer, the authorities withdrew the joint detention order covering Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi ahead of a scheduled court hearing, clearing the way for their release. Noreen Niazi's son, Wali, confirmed the release on social media, saying his mother, who is in her seventies, and his aunt had been held for 53 days without a charge.
The PTI said in a statement that the release of the two sisters did not erase the suffering inflicted on Imran Khan's family and called for no further persecution. Senior PTI leader Moonis Elahi also confirmed that the Punjab government had withdrawn the detention orders, while stressing that Aleema Khan's case was still pending.
The Punjab government had not issued a statement on the release by Thursday evening. The episode has drawn attention to the use of preventive detention orders against the families of political figures, with the sisters' lawyers arguing from the start that the orders were unlawful.
Imran Khan himself remains in Adiala Jail, where he has been held since his arrest in August 2023. His sisters had been among the most visible members of his family campaigning for his release, regularly visiting the jail and speaking to the media about his health and the conditions of his detention.
For now, the focus shifts to Aleema Khan, the eldest of the three sisters and the first to be detained. Her lawyers are pressing for the withdrawal of her separate detention order, and the PTI has said it will continue to pursue her release through the courts.
