The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday issued notices to the Deputy Commissioner and police on a petition challenging the detention of PTI Senior Vice President Sher Afzal Marwat under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Marwat was arres¬ted from outside the LHC on Thursday, where he had arrived to join a protest. Footage of his arrest shared by the PTI on X (formerly Twitter) had shown policemen dragging him by the collar as several lawyers tried to stop them. He was later moved to an undisclosed location.
Police sources told that the arrest was made under the MPO. The law emp¬owers the police to detain a person considered “prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order”.
The arrest was strongly criticised by PTI leaders and lawyers’ bodies. A statement shared on the party’s official X account held the caretaker government responsible for “acting as a facilitator” during the “unabated lawlessness”.
On Friday Marwat’s brother filed a petition in the LHC seeking the quashing of the PTI leader’s detention orders. He urged the court to declare the arrest “illegal, maliciously motivated, ab initio void and non-est”.
The application stated that the government had detained Marwat as a “political vendetta”. It also demanded that Marwat be released till the disposal of the petition.
