Imaan Mazari, daughter of incarcerated PTI leader Shireen Mazari, has said that the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance was being used to re-arrest her mother. She described this as an “absurd situation”.

“We are continuously seeing that MPO and other instruments are being used to suppress political dissent or to generally create an environment where there is fear,” she said at Aaj News’ show Spot Light on Wednesday.

Imaan spoke about her ordeal when asked about her mother’s re-arrest despite having an order from the Islamabad High Court for her release.

“Till yesterday, the Islamabad High Court had ordered that there will be no arrest until all the record is produced before the court. Today [Wednesday], we have been given an order of Punjab, even though an MPO of Islamabad was set aside by IHC order,” she said.

Mazari was arrested under Section 3 (power to arrest and detain suspected persons) of MPO from her house in Islamabad.

When asked about the new warrant, Imaan said that it was shown very late.

“When she [her mother] was leaving at that time I requested them to at least show us the warrant then they gave me a paper and it had that standard MPO detention order. They had done this but this has no logic because now she was released from Adiala, and she was arrested outside Adiala. She was discharged in that case and today she came home and she was again arrested. So this is becoming an absurd situation this has become a banana republic,” she said.

In her previous interview with Aaj News, she had expressed her disappointment with PTI chief Imran Khan for not saying a word of support for her mother.

Imaan, who is a lawyer, claimed that her mother was being targeted for standing with Khan. “So, at least he should have condemned it,” she said.

On Thursday, PTI chief Imran Khan tweeted about the arrest of his party leader. This time he named Shireen Mazari his post.