Two sisters of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, were released from Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore on Thursday after the Punjab government withdrew their detention orders under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law. Their third sister, Aleema Khan, remains in custody, and her lawyers are seeking the withdrawal of her separate detention order.
The two women had been held since September, when they were detained under Section 3 of the MPO as the PTI prepared for a protest march towards Islamabad. Their initial 30-day detention orders were extended for another 30 days, and the orders were challenged in the Lahore High Court. According to the family, they spent 53 days in detention without being charged or tried. Noreen’s son, Wali, said on X: “For 53 days they were held under Section 3 of the MPO. No charge. No trial. Two weeks ago, Noreen, in her seventies, was taken to a cardiac hospital. No one told us.” Noreen was moved to the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore on 28 October after her health deteriorated in custody.
The release came a day after Imran Khan’s lawyers, Barrister Salman Safdar and Sardar Latif Khosa, met him and his wife, Bushra Bibi, at Adiala Jail on Wednesday, following an Islamabad High Court order. The Express Tribune reported, citing sources, that Imran had backed party chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan’s push for dialogue, with the meeting also covering the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment, the release of his sisters and Bushra Bibi’s medical treatment. PTI secretary general Salman Akram Raja gave a different emphasis, telling Dawn the former prime minister’s key message was to “stick firmly to the ideology” of the party, and Imran also rejected a proposal to return to parliamentary committees, according to reports of the meeting.
Separately, reports say Imran Khan may be moved to a private hospital in the coming days for further medical treatment, after a meeting on 9 November between Gohar, Senator Ali Zafar and Safdar and an important judicial figure. The reports, carried by UrduPoint and attributed to journalist Shabbir Dar, say the private hospital has been informed so arrangements can be made, but that it is too early to say how long he would stay. Bushra Bibi is also reported likely to be transferred to hospital for medical tests. These reports are not confirmed. Imran Khan was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences overnight on Tuesday for an injection for an eye problem and treatment for blood pressure, as reported yesterday.
Sources: Dawn, ‘Imran’s sisters Uzma, Noreen released from jail after extended detention orders withdrawn, says lawyer’, 12 November 2026 — https://www.dawn.com/news/2044037/imrans-sisters-uzma-noreen-released-after-detention-orders-withdrawn-says-lawyer ; The Express Tribune, ‘Imran backs Gohar’s dialogue push’, 13 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2640016/imran-backs-gohars-dialogue-push ; The Express Tribune, ‘Imran Khan’s two sisters released after 50 days in detention’, 12 November 2026 — https://tribune.com.pk/story/2639924/uzma-khan-noreen-niazi-released-after-50-days-in-detention ; Business Recorder, ‘Two sisters of IK released’, 13 November 2026 — https://www.brecorder.com/news/amp/40448679 ; Dawn, ‘Imran’s key message from jail is to ‘stick firmly to the ideology’: PTI secretary general’, 13 November 2026 — https://www.dawn.com/news/2044072/imrans-key-message-from-jail-is-to-stick-firmly-to-the-ideology-pti-secretary-general ; UrduPoint, ‘Imran Khan May Be Moved to Private Hospital in Coming Days’, 12 November 2026 — https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/imran-khan-may-be-moved-to-private-hospital-2288214.html
Photo: Chatham House, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
