Imran Khan is asking for the whereabouts of his sister who was detained and ordered held for a month just days before a planned protest march demanding the release of Pakistan’s former leader.
Aleema Khan was held in Lahore on Sunday.
An order passed by deputy commissioner Muhammad Ali Ijaz under the Maintenance of Public Order law claimed, “according to intelligence reports, her presence at any public place will pose a grave threat to public safety”. The law allows a person to be detained with little judicial oversight.
Ms Khan was taken to the Kot Lakhpat jail, Dawn reported anonymous police sources as saying.
Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party denounced the “illegal detention” and her family demanded her return.
Her sister, Noreen Niazi, told a press conference that Ms Khan was “picked up” along with her driver after leaving her home on Saturday. The family later learned that her vehicle had been found parked outside a police station.
Ms Khan's son, Shahrez Khan, said his mother "was abducted after leaving home".
"Our family has had no contact or news of her whereabouts. She’s on bail in all cases against her in Lahore. We demand the government immediately disclose her whereabouts and ensure her safe return."
My mother, Aleema Khan, was abducted after leaving home this morning. Our family has had no contact or news of her whereabouts. She is on bail in all cases against her in Lahore. We demand the government immediately disclose her whereabouts and ensure her safe return.…
— Shahrez Khan (@Shahrez_KhanPK) September 20, 2026
Zulfi Bukhari, an aide to Mr Khan, called the arrest "absolutely despicable" and said "fear of the protest on 27th is clearly taking its toll" on Pakistani authorities.
Mr Khan’s party intends to organise a march to the capital Islamabad on 27 September to demand his release.
Mohsin Naqvi, the interior minister, said the government would take all measures to stop the march going ahead. He was quoted as claiming that the protest would harm the country.
Authorities had already lined streets in Islamabad with shipping containers ahead of the planned march, local media reported.
Mr Khan, 72, was initially arrested during nationwide unrest in May 2023 and then in August that year, and slapped with over 100 cases.
He has since been acquitted in several cases, including some related to his handling of official secrets and his marriage to Bushra Bibi, but has remained in prison. He is serving a 14-year sentence in a corruption case, while he and his wife are also serving time in a separate case involving state gifts.
The former cricketing icon was removed as prime minister in April 2022 following a parliamentary vote of no-confidence that he later accused Pakistan’s powerful military of orchestrating at the behest of the US.
In recent months, concerns have grown over Mr Khan’s health as well as his prison conditions. He was diagnosed with a blocked retinal vein in his right eye, a condition that can lead to significant vision loss, earlier this year. His lawyer said that delay in treatment left him with only 15 per cent vision in one eye, although a government medical board later claimed his condition had improved.
Last month, as the former prime minister marked three years in prison, human rights activists renewed calls to Pakistani authorities to restore Mr Khan’s access to family, lawyers and medical care .
Amnesty International urged Pakistan’s government to end what it described as “unlawful” restrictions on his detention and demanded it “unconditionally restore Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi Khan’s right to see their family and lawyers”.
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