Imran Khan's three sisters arrested in Lahore

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's three sisters have been arrested in Lahore, his party said Monday.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Khan were taken into custody and sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

Lahore's deputy commissioner passed two orders on Sunday for the three women to be detained for 30 days under Punjab province's Maintenance of Public Order law.

PTI spokesman Zulfi Bukhari said on X that police raided Aleem Khan's home and took Khan's sisters, nephews and children. Akram said the children were later released.

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

Khan's party has called a protest for September 27. Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Sunday the protest call was illegal and said authorities would not allow roads to be blocked or people's lives disrupted.

Khan has been in jail since 2023. He and his wife were sentenced late last year to 17 years in prison on corruption charges, which they both deny. Khan, 73, was Pakistan's prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a political crisis involving tensions with the military establishment.