The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered immediate release of former human rights minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari, declaring her detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO) “illegal”.
Several PTI leaders were arrested under MPO following the violent protests that erupted in the wake of former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest on May 9. The MPO was promulgated by the martial law administration of General Ayub Khan in the 1960s to curb dissent and has been termed by human rights quarters as a draconian piece of legislation.
The former minister has been arrested thrice in the last few weeks and earlier the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had also declared her arrest under MPO illegal and ordered her release from Adiala Jail. However, shortly after she was released from Adiala Jail, she was arrested by Punjab police.
Imaan Mazari had moved LHC Rawalpindi against rearrest of her mother. Mazari’s daughter had requested the court to declare that the move was illegal, unconstitutional and in violation of fundamental rights.
Hearing the arguments made by the former minister’s lawyers, the LHC ordered her immediate release, declaring her arrest under MPO “unlawful”.
Shireen Mazari’s daughter Imaan Mazari had also accused the Islamabad police of manhandling her.
 has ordered immediate release of former human rights minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shireen Mazari, declaring her detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO) "illegal".){kind=link}