Aleema detained under MPO in Lahore ahead of PTI's Sept 27 protest

PTI said on Sunday that ex-prime minister and party founder Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, had been detained by authorities, after the office of Lahore’s deputy commissioner (DC) ordered her detention or arrest for 30 days. The development takes place amid reports of a crackdown on the PTI ahead of its September 27 countrywide protest and march to Islamabad, which the party has called to demand Imran’s release from jail and mobilise people for the supremacy of the Constitution. The September 20 order, a copy of which is available with Dawn , said DC Muhammad Ali Ijaz had ordered the detention or arrest of Aleema and a man named Muhammad Ameer under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 (MPO). The MPO ordinance allows the authorities to order detention and restrict judicial review of such orders.

“Their custody shall be placed under the superintendent, Central Jail, Kot Lakhpat, Lahore. They shall be at liberty to make a representation to the provincial government against this order,” the document read. Police sources confirmed to Dawn that Aleema had been taken to the Kot Lakhpat jail. Following the arrest, Aleema’s sister Noreen Niazi addressed a press conference in Lahore, flanked by her sister’s counsel Advocate Mudassir Umar. Noreen claimed Aleema was “picked up” along with her driver after she left her residence on Saturday and they later learnt that Aleema’s vehicle was parked at a police station. Meanwhile, the lawyer said they had yet to receive official confirmation of her arrest. Aleema’s son Shahrez Khan, in a post on X, alleged his mother “was abducted after leaving home this morning”. “Our family has had no contact or news of her whereabouts,” he wrote, clarifying that Aleema was on bail in all cases against her in Lahore. “We demand…