Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s workers and leaders, who were arrested as part of the ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ could not be released on Friday, despite court orders.

A six-member PTI team reached the office of the inspector general of prisons late on Thursday but the release orders could not be issued.

Earlier in the day, the Lahore High Court had issued orders for the release of 320 PTI workers who had offered voluntary arrests as part of the jail stuffing movement from different prisons across the province.

The PTI had maintained in court that the orders for the arrest and their movement to jails across the province was against the law. The court had remarked that the keeping workers imprisoned after they had requested release was no in line with the law.

The court had therefore suspended orders for the workers to be sent into custody and had asked all parties to submit a reply by March 6.

PTI had launched the movement on February 22 from Lahore against the ‘oppressive tactics’ of the government with the plan of offering arrests in a new city each day. Many members of the upper leadership including Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi had offered arrests. The movement was finally called off after the Supreme Court ordered elections to be organised in Punjab and KP within 90 days.