Police in Lahore detained Aleema Khan, sister of jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, on Sunday, days before the party’s planned September 27 march on Islamabad.
Officers from the Lytton Road police station intercepted Aleema Khan’s vehicle around 1:15 p.m. as she headed toward the Lahore Gymkhana Club, according to family sources cited by The Express Tribune. Her driver, Muhammad Ameer, was also taken into custody. She was later shifted to Kot Lakhpat jail.
The Lahore deputy commissioner issued a 30-day detention order under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960, a colonial-era preventive detention law frequently invoked against political activists in Pakistan.
What authorities allege
According to The News, police reports accuse Aleema Khan of motivating PTI workers to damage public and government property during the party’s May 9 protests, mobilizing supporters through social media and public gatherings, and raising slogans against state institutions.
No formal charges have been publicly detailed beyond the preventive order, and neither the Punjab government nor Lahore police responded to requests for comment from Reuters.
The detention comes amid a broader crackdown on PTI figures ahead of the September 27 mobilization, organized under the banner of the Tehreek Tahafuz Aain Pakistan alliance, which describes the march as a campaign for ‘protection of the Constitution, Parliament and provincial rights.’
PTI condemns the arrest
PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan condemned the detention, saying that ‘arresting Aleema or detaining her under the MPO amounted to fueling tensions’ rather than resolving them. He said the party remained committed to ‘a peaceful struggle for constitutional and political demands’ and confirmed that talks with government representatives were ongoing.
Another of Imran Khan’s sisters, Noreen Niazi, reacted with visible frustration, telling reporters: ‘I do not know why they are so worried that they are arresting women as well.’
Wire Examiner previously reported on Noreen Niazi’s weekly jail visits to Imran Khan at Adiala Jail, where the former prime minister has remained in custody through much of 2026 on multiple criminal cases he denies.
PTI’s Central Punjab spokesperson said party workers were also being rounded up as the September 27 march approaches, framing the detentions as an attempt to weaken turnout before the protest reaches the capital.
Why it matters
The arrest of a close relative of Pakistan’s most prominent opposition figure, rather than a rank-and-file activist, signals how far authorities are willing to go to blunt PTI’s street power in the run-up to a major demonstration. It also lands during a period of heightened friction between PTI and the government, which Wire Examiner has tracked through the party’s ongoing contempt petition against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over Imran Khan’s treatment in custody.
An Islamabad High Court ruling already bars the government from using state resources to obstruct the planned march, a restriction that has done little to ease tensions on the ground. With less than a week until the mobilization, both sides appear to be testing how far they can push before September 27 arrives.
Pakistani authorities have used the MPO Ordinance repeatedly against opposition figures in recent years, and rights groups have long criticized the law’s broad, unreviewed detention powers. Whether Aleema Khan’s case draws similar scrutiny from courts or human rights bodies remains to be seen in the coming days.
