The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday disposed of petitions challenging the detention of four people—including two PTI lawmakers and a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) worker—under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law, which allows preventive detention to keep public order. The court declared the pleas infructuous, meaning they no longer served a live purpose.
What the court decided
In a written judgment, Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro made clear that closing the cases did not amount to a finding that any detention was lawful or constitutional. The petitions had attacked detention orders issued against Adil Bazai, Dawar Kundi, Khushdil Khan and Basharatullah under Section 3 of the MPO.
The Islamabad High Court held that the legal effect of the detention orders issued on 21 September 2026 had already expired. It did not decide whether later detention orders issued on 3 October 2026 were lawful, because those orders had not been brought before it. The judgment said the legality of those later orders could not be judged without a specific challenge.
Limits after the 26th Amendment
The court also noted that, after the 26th Constitutional Amendment, a high court cannot grant relief beyond what a petition actually asks for. It said constitutional jurisdiction cannot rest on speculation or on material that is not on the judicial record.
On preventive detention more broadly, the judgment stressed that this extraordinary power cannot be used arbitrarily and must stay within the Constitution and the relevant statute. Informing a detainee of the grounds within 15 days is a constitutional requirement, the court said, and the person must be given a chance to make an effective representation as early as possible. Failure to file a legal representation, it added, does not put an otherwise unlawful detention beyond constitutional review, and detention orders cannot be issued arbitrarily.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 21 September 2026: Detention orders under Section 3 of the MPO were issued against Adil Bazai, Dawar Kundi, Khushdil Khan and Basharatullah; the Islamabad High Court later found those orders’ legal effect had expired.
- 3 October 2026: Subsequent detention orders were issued; the court said it expressed no opinion on them because they were not challenged in these petitions.
- Tuesday: The Islamabad High Court disposed of the petitions as infructuous, while stating that disposal was not a ruling that any detention was constitutional or legal.
What remains open
Anyone seeking a ruling on the October orders would need a fresh, specific challenge. For now, the PTI-related detention dispute before the court ends only the challenge to the September orders, not a blanket verdict on later custody.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Islamabad High Court ne PTI ke do lawmakers aur doosron ki MPO giraftari ke khilaf darkhwasten band kar di hain. Court ne kaha September 21 wali detention ab legally khatam ho chuki thi. October 3 ki nayi orders par court ne koi faisla nahi diya kyunkay unhen challenge nahi kiya gaya. Ye faisla ye nahi kehta ke giraftari bilkul jaiz thi—sirf ye ke purani petitions ab kaam ki nahi raheen.
