ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court has declared unlawful preventive detention orders against around two dozen supporters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party ahead of its planned march on Islamabad later this week, their lawyer said on Thursday.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Pakistan’s main opposition movement, has called supporters to march on the capital on Sunday to demand his release from prison. Authorities have detained party members, prohibited public gatherings and closed major roads leading to Islamabad.

The supporters in the latest cases had been detained in and around Multan under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, which allows provincial authorities to hold people without a criminal conviction if they are considered a threat to public safety or order.

“Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan of Lahore High Court Multan Bench has now given relief in multiple cases resulting in the MPO detention orders being declared as ‘illegal and without any lawful justification,’” Barrister Taimur Malik, who represented the detainees and is also a PTI official, said on X.

“All the detained individuals have been released as well,” he added.

Malik said the legal challenges covered “around two dozen” PTI supporters. He did not identify the detainees or specify the number of orders overturned in the different cases. Arab News could not independently review the court orders.

PTI says about 1,500 of its supporters and officeholders have been detained across Pakistan ahead of the march, although the government has not provided a consolidated arrest figure and the party’s claim could not be independently verified.

Among those detained are Khan’s three sisters, Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, who were placed under 30-day administrative detention in Lahore. Their detention orders have also been challenged before the Lahore High Court.

Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, has prohibited gatherings of five or more people from Sept. 23 until Oct. 5. The provincial government says intelligence agencies have warned that militant groups could target public gatherings, an assessment that has not been independently verified.

Authorities have also closed principal routes connecting Islamabad with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the northwestern province governed by PTI and from where many protesters are expected to travel. Shipping containers have been positioned around Islamabad’s government district as security is tightened before the march.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has warned PTI against entering Islamabad and said the government will enforce a court ruling prohibiting political parties from occupying public roads, highways and government buildings. 

PTI says its demonstration will be peaceful and has pledged to proceed despite the arrests and restrictions.

Khan has been jailed since August 2023 and has faced cases ranging from corruption and the alleged misuse of state gifts to terrorism-related charges arising from protests by his supporters. He denies wrongdoing, while PTI says the prosecutions are politically motivated and intended to keep Pakistan’s most prominent opposition leader out of public life. The government denies interfering in the judicial process.