All 3 sisters of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan arrested ahead of Sept.27 long march

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's party said on Monday that his three sisters had been arrested. The purported arrests involved Imran Khan's sisters Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan. 

The development follows the detention of his sister, Aleema, after the Lahore deputy commissioner ordered her detention or arrest for 30 days.

"Punjab police have raided Aleema Khan's home and have abducted Imran Khan's other two sisters, his nephews and their children," Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said on the social media platform X. 

"Imran Khan's sisters and their children were taken into custody, but the children were released," PTI's information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram told AFP.  "All three sisters have been sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore," he added. 

Punjab police did not respond to AFP's request for comment. 

Aleema’s arrest came amid reports of a crackdown on the PTI ahead of its Sept.27 countrywide protest and march to Islamabad, which the party has called to demand Imran Khan’s release from jail and mobilise people for the supremacy of the Constitution.

In a post on X in the early hours of Monday, the party’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram accused Punjab police of "arresting both sisters of Imran Khan, along with their children and the sons of Aleema.”

He claimed that the individuals had "been placed in an armoured vehicle and are being taken to an unknown location.”

The PTI, in a post on X, condemned the alleged arrest, calling it a "blatant abuse of authority, a violation of fundamental rights, and an act of political victimisation.” "Such conduct is illegal, unconstitutional, and is condemned in the strongest possible terms,” it said.

PTI lawyer Awais Younas Chaudhry confirmed said that all three of Imran’s sisters had been arrested.

"Earlier Noreen and Dr Uzma were confined to their house, but on Monday morning they were taken to an unknown place,” he claimed.

Chaudhry said that Aleema was detained for 30 days under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960 (MPO). "However, we have not received any orders regarding Noreen and Uzma, due to which I cannot confirm whether they will be released soon or if they are also detained for 30 days,” he said.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan’s son Kasim, in a post on X, alleged that Uzma and Noreen had been "abducted”. "This is a disgrace,” Kasim wrote, claiming that authorities had "broken into my aunties and cousins' houses and forced them into vehicles with no explanation.”

"No reasons for arrest have been stated. No news has been released as to where they have been taken,” he wrote.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday the protest call was illegal.  "We will not allow them to block roads and disrupt people's lives," Tarar said.