The Peshawar High Court has granted interim relief to 28 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, directing them to submit surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.
A bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Babar Sattar ordered the petitioners, including Ahsan and 27 others, to furnish two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each before their respective area magistrates.
The court also directed the petitioners to submit undertakings pledging that they would not engage in anti-state activities or take part in any actions that could threaten public safety or disturb public order.
In its order, the bench observed that the petitioners had established a prima facie case for interim relief, particularly because their constitutional rights to life and liberty were at stake. The court referred to Articles 4, 9, 10 and 15 of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973.
The court scheduled the next hearing for October 27. The petition was jointly filed by the 28 detainees, who challenged detention orders issued by the provincial Home Department on October 12, 2026.
During the proceedings, Assistant Advocate General Waqar Khalil requested additional time on behalf of the respondents, including the Home Department and the Deputy Commissioner of Mardan. He assured the court that detailed paragraph-wise comments, along with relevant records and supporting documents, would be submitted before the next hearing.
Representing the petitioners, lawyers Azhar Rahim, Sajjad Ahmad, Saeed Usman and Mohammad Yasir Khattak argued that the detention orders issued under Section 3 of the West Pakistan Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, were identical in nature.
The legal team maintained that the orders did not specify concrete grounds for detention or identify any particular incident or action to support the allegations and concerns cited by the authorities.
The lawyers referred to an earlier high court ruling in the case of Aftab Alam and another versus Secretary Home and Tribal Affairs, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar and others. They argued that the detention orders failed to comply with the legal requirements of the MPO Ordinance and established Supreme Court principles governing preventive detention.
The petitioners’ counsel also cited interim relief granted by high court benches in Swat and Abbottabad on October 20 and 21, respectively, to other individuals facing similar detention orders. They requested equal treatment for their clients on the same legal grounds.
Separately, 122 PTI activists from Swabi district have approached the Peshawar High Court to challenge their detention under the MPO Ordinance.
The petition was filed on their behalf by members of the Insaf Lawyers Forum, the legal wing of the PTI.
The petitioners argued that the government’s detention orders were unlawful and unconstitutional, claiming that the authorities had failed to fulfil the essential legal requirements for preventive detention.
They also requested interim relief in the form of release on bail while their petition remains pending before the court.
Several petitions have been filed before the high court challenging the detention of PTI activists under the MPO Ordinance in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
