LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the Punjab home secretary to decide the dispute about alleged illegal detention of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) workers.

Earlier, the inspector general of prisons submitted a report to the court and admitted detention of 3,509 workers of the parties. He said 224 of PTI and 309 workers of PAT were behind the bars presently.

The report was submitted to the court of Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan in connection with several identical petitions against the detention of the political workers.

The petitioner’s counsel stated that the Punjab government detained a large number of workers of both PTI and PAT in different cities of the province. He said the high court had already restrained police from arresting workers illegally but the order was not complied with.

The judge disposed of the petitions with directions to the home secretary to decide the matter and submit a compliance report by Sept 25.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014