LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday issued notice on a petition challenging the detention of PTI leader Mubashir Maqsood in Sialkot and sought a reply from the deputy commissioner.

Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner. He argued that Maqsood had been detained on political grounds despite being a law-abiding citizen. He said his client’s detention under the maintenance of public order was unjustified. He asked the court to declare the detention order illegal and set it aside.

The court adjourned the hearing till Sept 22 and directed the Sialkot DC to submit a reply to the petition.

In another case, anti-terrorism court (ATC) allowed custody of the PTI’s former MPA Shabbir Gujjar to police for his identification parade in Jinnah House attack case of May 9 riots.

Earlier, Sarwar Road police produced Gujjar before the court and sought his custody for conducting the identification parade.

Advocate Saleem Laadi appeared on behalf of the PTI leader and opposed the police request. He argued that his client had been arrested merely because of his affiliation with the PTI. He contended that there was no need for the identification parade. He asked the court to discharge Gujjar from the case.

A state prosecutor, however, said the investigation could not be completed without conducting the identification parade of the suspect.

The court allowed the request and granted custody of Gujjar to police for seven days to conduct the identification parade in jail. The court directed police to produce the accused again on Sept 22.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2026