Sanam Javed khula proceedings are now before a Lahore Family Court, after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activist Sanam Javed has filed for khula from her husband, Atiq Riaz, in a Lahore Family Court, asking the court to dissolve a marriage that began more than seventeen years ago. The court has taken up the petition and issued a notice to her husband, directing him to file his reply by 25 November 2026.
In the Sanam Javed khula case, Sanam Javed filed the petition through her lawyer, Barrister Khadija Siddiqui. The family court will hear the matter again on 25 November, after receiving Atiq Riaz’s response. No reason for seeking the dissolution has been stated in the reports of the filing, and the court has made no finding on the petition at this stage.
The development brings the personal life of one of the PTI’s most prominent women activists into the public eye at a time when she remains behind bars. Sanam Javed is currently detained at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail in connection with cases linked to the violence of 9 May 2023.
Sanam Javed khula: what the court filing says
According to the reports, Sanam Javed has asked the Lahore Family Court to grant her a decree of khula against her husband, Atiq Riaz. The court has issued a notice to Atiq Riaz and directed him to submit his response on 25 November. The court will proceed further after receiving his reply at the next hearing.
The petition was filed through Barrister Khadija Siddiqui, who is representing Sanam Javed in the family court proceedings. The filing does not, on the available reporting, set out any allegation against her husband, and no figure for dower or any financial settlement has been reported.
It is important to be clear about what has happened so far: a petition has been filed and a notice has been issued. The marriage has not been dissolved. That decision rests with the Family Court after it hears both sides.
A marriage of seventeen years
Sanam Javed and Atiq Riaz were married on 22 September 2009. The couple have two children together.
The marriage has lasted through the most turbulent period of Sanam Javed’s public life. She rose to prominence as a PTI activist and social media voice, and she has been at the centre of the party’s street politics since the events of 9 May 2023, when violent protests broke out across the country after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.
Her husband, Atiq Riaz, has also faced cases arising from the same events. A Lahore High Court division bench granted him bail in the Jinnah House attack case, in which police had accused him and other PTI leaders and workers of attacking the residence of the Lahore corps commander during the 9 May riots.
Why she is in jail
While the Sanam Javed khula petition proceeds, Sanam Javed is currently serving time in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore in cases tied to the 9 May 2023 violence. She has been in and out of custody since the riots, booked in multiple cases across Punjab, and her detention has repeatedly made headlines over the past three years.
In July 2024, the Islamabad High Court declared one of her arrests illegal and allowed her to walk free, only for her to be taken into custody again in fresh cases. Her nomination papers for the 2024 general election — filed for two National Assembly seats and one Punjab Assembly seat — were rejected by returning officers, and an election tribunal of the Lahore High Court dismissed her appeals against those rejections in January 2024.
The khula petition is a separate, private family matter, filed while she remains in jail. It is being heard by the Family Court in Lahore, not by the courts handling the criminal cases against her.
What khula means under Pakistani law
Khula is the dissolution of a Muslim marriage by the Family Court at the wife’s request, where she satisfies the court that she cannot live with her husband within the limits prescribed by Allah. The Supreme Court recognised the right in the landmark 1967 case of Khurshid Bibi v. Muhammad Amin, and the Federal Shariat Court later described it as an absolute right that does not depend on proving cruelty.
The procedure is set out in the Family Courts Act, 1964. The wife files a suit for dissolution in the Family Court where she ordinarily resides. The court summons the husband, attempts reconciliation at the pre-trial stage and, if reconciliation fails, passes the decree. In Punjab, the court may direct the wife to surrender up to 50 per cent of her deferred dower or 25 per cent of her admitted prompt dower to the husband.
The law expects a family case to be decided within six months. Once the decree is passed, it is sent to the Union Council chairman, who proceeds as on a talaq notice, and the divorce becomes effective after the ninety-day reconciliation period.
What happens next
In the Sanam Javed khula case, The next hearing is fixed for 25 November 2026, when Atiq Riaz is expected to file his reply to the notice. The court will then decide how the case proceeds, including whether reconciliation is attempted before any decree is considered.
Until then, the petition remains exactly that — a request before the court. Neither side has spoken publicly about the filing in the available reporting, and the reasons behind the decision to seek khula have not been made public.
For Sanam Javed, the case adds a deeply personal legal battle to the criminal cases that have kept her in jail for much of the past three years. Whatever the Family Court decides on 25 November and in the hearings that follow, the outcome will be watched closely — not only by her supporters in the PTI, but by anyone following one of the most closely watched political detentions in the country.
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