LAHORE: The son of Aleema Khan, detained sister of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday, seeking the production and release of his mother, as well as two aunts.

All three of Imran’s sisters — Aleema, Noreen Niazi and Uzma Khan — were detained by authorities in September, under the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, as the PTI geared up of for a planned protest march towards Islamabad. Their detention was ordered for 30 days.

Aleema’s son, Shahrez Khan, filed a fresh plea challenging their detention in the LHC on Wednesday.

The petition stated that Imran’s sisters remained at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail despite the lapse of the 30-day period of their detention.

The Punjab home secretary (grievance redressal commissioner), the inspector general of police, the Lahore capital city police officer and the Kot Lakhpat jail superintendent have been named as respondents.

The petition, filed through Advocate Rana Mudassar Umar, said the sisters’ detention orders were issued on Sept 20 and expired on Oct 19, yet the jail authorities had not released them despite requests.

“Therefore, detention of the detenues is against the law and fundamental rights of the individuals,” it contended.

The plea further said that the three sisters were not wanted in any case, and raised concerns that they may be implicated in “false criminal cases” if not released.

The petition argued that their detention was a consequence of their efforts for their brother’s release. It further contended that the preventive detention could not replace ordinary criminal law, and that the order violated Article 10 as well as the safeguards of Section 3 of the MPO.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the jail superintendent to produce the detainees before the court and “set them at liberty, in the interest of justice, equity and fair play”. He asked the court to declare the detention orders void and issue directives for the detainees’ release, while suspending the operation of the orders.

The petition has been fixed for Thursday before Justice Abher Gul Khan.

LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday granted the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) five-day physical remand of a suspect in an alleged Rs35 billion fraud involving the online sale of counterfeit US postage labels.

The suspect, identified as a 33-year-old resident of Khanewal, had been charged by a Florida jury with defrauding the United States Postal Service (USPS) of $126 million, the US Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida said on Sept 28.

The NCCIA’s Lahore zone announced his arrest at a press conference a day ago, saying that the suspect operated a website to market and sell over 5m fake postage stamps over a period of more than three years.

Subsequently, the suspect was produced before Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo on Wednesday, where the NCCIA sought his 14-day physical remand for interrogation.

The agency’s investigating officer told the court that the suspect had allegedly been operating a website, LabelsBank.com, since August 2023 to sell more than 5m counterfeit postage labels.

Partially allowing the agency’s request, the court granted it a five-day physical remand of the suspect.

According to the US Department of Justice, the website run by the Pakistani national was not authorised to sell USPS products and services.

The counterfeit labels allegedly allowed customers to ship packages at rates “far below legitimate USPS prices”, it said, adding that it caused losses exceeding $126m to the postal service.

US prosecutors alleged that the website sold the labels for around $2 each, regardless of a package’s weight, size or destination. A US court order authorised the seizure and shutdown of the website.

On Tuesday, NCCIA’s Lahore Zone Additional Director Atif Ameer said eight special teams had been formed in Punjab, Islamabad and Sindh to trace the suspect and investigate the network.

He said 16 bank accounts had been used in the scam, including some allegedly operated by his close relatives.

LAHORE: The Punjab Defamation Tribunal on Tuesday ruled in favour of Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari in a defamation suit against Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Moeen Riaz Qureshi, ordering him to pay Rs3 million in general damages.

In January, Bokhari filed the defamation suit against Qureshi seeking damages of Rs800 million. She filed the claim against the opposition leader, alleging that he made “baseless and fabricated” accusations against her.

In a short order issued on Tuesday, the tribunal said that the counsel for both parties had concluded their final arguments.

“The claim of the plaintiff is hereby decreed up to the extent of general damages amounting to Rupees three million (Rs3,000,000),” said tribunal member Anjum Raza Syed in an order seen by Dawn.

However, the tribunal dismissed the minister’s claim for special and punitive damages.

Meanwhile, the PTI said in its statement that its MPA was told to pay Rs84m in damages.

Bokhari’s counsel argued that the defendant, Qureshi, had acknowledged making the remarks in question during a television programme but had failed to produce any evidence to substantiate the allegations.

The tribunal said a detailed judgment would be issued separately.

The information minister had filed the suit following allegations Qureshi levelled at the time of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s then-chief minister Sohail Afridi’s visit to the Punjab Assembly.

He had alleged that the provincial minister got 200 paid individuals into the assembly premises, and that the journalists who put questions to Afridi were her salaried employees.

‘Attempt to respond to criticism with fines’

Commenting on the verdict, Qureshi wrote on X: “The voice I raise in favour of the people’s rights, the supremacy of the Constitution, and Imran Khan cannot be silenced.”

He asserted that as the opposition leader, his duty was “not to flatter those in power but to question them, defend the rights of the people, and stand firm against every undemocratic action”.

“Remember! Dissent is the strength of democracy, not its weakness. Attempting to respond to criticism with fines cannot prove any stance wrong.”

In its statement, the PTI expressed its deep concern over the verdict, assailing the Punjab government for being “unwilling to tolerate even political criticism and dissent”.

It contended that the PML-N introduced the Punjab Defamation Act 2024 and used its majority to turn it into law, which it has now employed.

Noting that Qureshi had been attempting to present a resolution in the Punjab Assembly against the imposition of emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI said the emergence of the verdict “raises questions about its timing and political implications”.