LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday rejected a police request for further physical remand of PTI leader Hammad Azhar in the Jinnah House attack case and sent him to jail on judicial remand.

Sarwar Road police had booked several PTI leaders and workers on charges of attacking and vandalising Jinnah House during the May 9, 2023 protests against the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.

According to his family, Azhar was arrested on Sept 5. However, police said the next day they were unaware of his arrest, and he was produced before an ATC on Sept 7. His initial 21-day physical remand was extended at least twice.

Subsequently, upon the completion of the latest 12-day remand, the PTI leader was presented before ATC Judge Sardar Muhammad Akram Khan on Tuesday.

The investigating officer sought further physical remand of the former finance minister, stating that the police wanted to conduct a polygraph test, also known as a lie detector test.

However, Azhar’s counsel, Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi, argued that a polygraph test required the suspect’s consent.

He argued that according to a Lahore High Court judgment, the procedure was to be conducted during judicial remand.

The lawyer said the suspect was also required to make a statement before a magistrate indicating whether he wished to undergo the test.

Azhar told the court that he did not want to undergo the test if the law allowed him to refuse it. He said a suspect should not be punished for the prosecution’s alleged lack of knowledge about the legal requirements.

After hearing arguments from the prosecution and the defence over the proposed polygraph test, Judge Akram dismissed the police request for further physical remand and sent Azhar to jail under judicial custody.

Barrister Niazi hailed the verdict, writing on X that his client’s “50-day physical remand finally ends” and that he was sent to Kot Lakhpat jail.

Azhar served as a federal minister for multiple portfolios during the PTI government, including finance, industries and energy.

In the aftermath of the May 2023 riots, when the state launched a crackdown against the party leadership, he had gone into hiding and reappeared in public a year later, on May 22, 2024.

In 2025, he reiterated his decision to step down as the president of the PTI’s Punjab chapter, citing a lack of access to Imran.

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday disposed of a petition seeking the release of PTI founder Imran Khan’s three sisters after the Punjab government informed the court that their preventive detention had been extended for another 30 days.

An assistant advocate general of Punjab told Justice Abher Gul Khan, who has been holding hearings on the petition, that the government had approved a further 30-day detention of Aleema Khan, Dr Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi on the recommendation of the Lahore deputy commissioner.

The law officer also submitted a report on behalf of the home secretary and said the detention period had been extended on Oct 7.

Imran’s sisters — Aleema, Noreen and Uzma — were detained by authorities in September, under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, as the PTI geared up for a planned protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days and expired on Oct 19 for Aleema and Oct 20 for Uzma and Noreen, the petitioner’s counsel had said at the previous hearing.

Today, counsel Rana Mudassar Umar requested the court to order the recovery of the three women and their production before the court.

However, Justice Khan observed that while the deputy commissioner had issued the detention notifications, but the petitioner had not made the official a respondent in the petition.

The judge held that the court could not issue an order beyond the scope of the petition.

The judge disposed of the petition in light of the home secretary’s report.

Aleema’s son, Shahrez, had filed the petition alleging that the three sisters remained confined at Kot Lakhpat jail despite the end of their initial 30-day detention orders on Oct 19 for Aleema and 20 for Noreen and Uzma.

The petition stated that the women were taken into custody in September under Section 3 of the MPO, 1960. Aleema was detained on Sept 20, while Uzma and Noreen were detained a day later.

The petitioner argued that the continuous detention beyond the notified period was unlawful, that the sisters were not wanted in any criminal case and that preventive detention could not be used as a substitute for ordinary criminal law.

It asked the court to order the sisters’ immediate release and that they be produced before the court.