LAHORE, Pakistan – Law enforcement operatives in Pakistan have arrested Aleema Khan, the sister of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, at her residence in Lahore, remanding her into preventive custody for 30 days ahead of a planned opposition protest march, party officials and diplomatic correspondents confirmed in Punjab on Sunday, September 20, 2026.
The arrest marks a sharp escalation in the federal and provincial governments’ crackdown against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), arriving one week before the party’s scheduled mass mobilization to the federal capital of Islamabad on Sunday, September 27, 2026, to demand the unconditional release of the former premier.
Okay News reports that an official detention warrant issued by the Lahore district administration under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance ordered that she be remanded to prison custody for an initial period of 30 days to avert potential disruption of civil peace.
“According to intelligence reports, her presence at any public place will pose a grave threat to public safety,” the district administration stated in its formal administrative directive.
The preventive detention follows stern warnings delivered on Saturday by Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Interior, Mohsin Naqvi, who announced that federal and provincial security apparatuses would deploy all statutory powers to block the planned September 27 convergence on the federal capital.
PTI leadership and members of Khan’s legal and political circle condemned the detention, characterizing the measure as an authoritarian effort to suppress legitimate political expression and intimidate family members advocating for the former prime minister’s constitutional rights.
Senior party figure and close aide Sayed Zulfikar “Zulfi” Bukhari denounced the detention as an act of administrative desperation, maintaining that state intimidation will fail to dampen public enthusiasm for the scheduled protest.
“The arrest of Khan’s sister is absolutely despicable,” Bukhari remarked in a public reaction. “The fear of the 27th protest is clearly taking its toll.”
Khan, who led Pakistan as prime minister from 2018 until his removal in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022, has remained incarcerated since August 2023 facing multiple administrative, financial, and national security charges, which his legal defense team maintains are politically motivated.
Legal representatives for the Khan family indicated that they are preparing an urgent writ of habeas corpus before the Lahore High Court on Monday to challenge the legality of the detention order, while PTI organizers affirmed that preparations for the September 27 march into Islamabad will proceed without alteration.
