KARACHI: A court on Monday granted pre-arrest bail to social activist and ‘FixIt’ campaigner Alamgir Khan and accepted bail pleas of Khan’s fellow activists who were arrested after they tried to march towards the Governor House from the Karachi Press Club during Sunday’s protest against poor quality of education in Karachi. An additional district and sessions judge granted Khan four-day interim bail in the sum of Rs10,000. He has been ordered to appear before the judicial magistrate for District South. The arrested social workers, including Mohsin Hussain, Alam Sher Khan, Talha, Asad Iqbal and Wasif Khan, were produced before the court. The investigation officer requested the court to remand the social activists in police custody for seven days. The court, however, turned the request and accepted their bail pleas in the sum of Rs5,000 (each). The court also ordered their release. Talking to journalists after his court appearance, Alamgir Khan claimed that he and his colleagues had not committed any violation. He said they were instead protesting against the poor quality of education. Khan said he and his companions had invited the Sindh governor to talk to them as to what steps should be taken to improve the overall quality of the education system in Sindh. But, he added, they were instead tortured and dealt with the water cannon by the administration and eight social workers were arrested. Replying to a question, Khan said the Sindh chief minister was far better than his predecessor, Qaim Ali Shah. But, he added, the people in Sindh were still suffering because of the provincial government’s overall failures in difference sectors. He said the people of Karachi were still facing a lot of social and civic issues, but Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was not aware of their issues. The PPP had kept Bilawal in dark and did not inform him about the persisting issues, he added. In February last year, Alamgir Khan and his driver had also been arrested after a case was registered related to disturbance of law and order during their demonstration outside the Chief Minister House. At that time he was alleged to have got into a scuffle with the police outside the CM House. Later, he along with his driver was acquitted as the prosecution had failed to prove the charges and produce any case property against him.
