LAHORE, Nov 16: Some 929 political activists still remained confined in prisons or sub-jails as the Punjab government on Friday withdrew the detention orders of JI Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad and released 41 women leaders of the PPP.

An announcement made by the Punjab government said the detention orders of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, JI Secretary General Munawwar Hasan and other leaders of the party had been withdrawn.

Nevertheless, neither the prisons department nor the JI headquarters at Mansoora, where the JI leaders had been confined, had received orders withdrawing the detention till the filing of this report.

The confusion about their release could not be cleared because of the contradictions between the government announcement and the claims by the JI headquarters.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jahangir whose detention orders were withdrawn last night was released on Friday morning.

The 41 PPP women leaders were released after their detention orders were withdrawn by the provincial home department on Friday night.

They were being confined at the residences of PPP Central Executive Committee member Mian Misbahur Rehman and Punjab PPP Women Wing President Begum Beelam Hasnain declared sub-jails by the provincial government.

Almost all the main PPP leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Yousaf Raza Gilani, Qasim Zia and others were still confined in prisons or sub-jails and government sources indicated that they might also be released in near future.

They also indicated that the government would also start releasing common PPP workers in small groups in a day or two.

Unconfirmed PPP reports stated around 29 PPP activists including Pir Nazim Shah, Allah Nawaz Sialvi, Chaudhry Raza and others were also released during the day.

The provincial home department sources said as many as 13 political activists were released from different jails in Punjab on medical grounds.

The released PPP women included six MPAs and around three MNAs. Among them were Yasmin Rehman, Mehreen Akbar Raja, Talat Yaqoob, Dr Nadia Aziz, Uzma Bukhari, Sagheera Islam, Bushra Malik, Begum Beelam Hasnain, Nadia Aziz, Farzana Raja, Faeza Malik, Parveen Qaimkhani, Amna Zaidi, Sajida Mir, Farah Arain, Kanwal, Guddo Pathani, Iffat Butt, Zarqa Butt, Samina Meo, Firdous Zahoor, Shamim Niazi, Firdous Khan, Shabnum Pervaiz, Banu Begum and Samina Naveed.

Three women activists of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf and male workers arrested on Thursday after they staged a demonstration in New Garden Town also remained imprisoned.

Earlier, the PPP local leaders said around 300 workers were arrested from different cities between Gujranwala and Kharian where they tried to continue the party’s long march.—Intikhab Hanif