Lahore [Pakistan], September 21: Pakistan's police have arrested Aleema Khan, the sister of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, from her house in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
The arrest on Sunday came exactly a week before a planned protest march by Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on September 27 to demand his release.
A senior police official in Lahore, requesting anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, confirmed the arrest but did not give more details.
The deputy commissioner of Lahore passed an order, a copy of which was seen by Al Jazeera, for Aleema Khan's 30-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law of Punjab.
The law allows the authorities to order the preventive detention of a person if deemed necessary for public order or safety. "Aleema Khan left her home in the morning with the driver when the police illegally arrested her and took her to an unknown location," her lawyer Rana Mudassar Umer said in a post on X. There was no immediate comment from the government on the arrest.
On Saturday, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the government would do everything it could to stop the PTI protest march, the Reuters news agency reported on Sunday. The PTI condemned the arrest, calling it illegal and demanding her immediate release.
Source: Qatar Tribune
