A day after arrest, #FixIt campaigner gets bail

He had been arrested for planning to dump trash outside CM House in protest

KARACHI: A day after he was arrested for planning to dump trash outside Chief Minister House in protest, a judicial magistrate granted #FixIt campaigner Alamgir Khan bail on Friday.

Anti-trash activist, Khan, and his accomplice, Saifullah, who was driving the garbage-filled tractor trolley, were produced by Civil Lines police before South judicial magistrate Kaleemullah Kalwar for their judicial remand.

The investigating officer of the case, SI Riaz Alam, told the judge that the accused were planning to put garbage in front of CM House on Thursday afternoon when a policeman, deputed on security there, asked them to stop. When Khan refused and dumped a full drum in the middle of the road, the police arrested him. Traffic came to a halt and commuters were obstructed on an important artery of the city, added Alam. The activist and the driver have been charged with section 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which calls for a maximum punishment of one month imprisonment or Rs500 fine.

During the hearing, the duo moved bail applications, which the judge allowed, observing that the section with which the accused are charged with is bailable. Hence, they were released on bail, subject to furnishing a surety of Rs5,000 by each of them. The court has fixed March 11 for the next hearing of the case.

Confident about campaign

After being granted bail, Khan seemed confident about his campaign and told The Express Tribune that he believes that it will gain momentum as he is doing something with the support of the people.

"It is a vigilante movement since the government is incapable to perform in the province," he said. Criticising the chief minister, he said that the government has other priorities, otherwise they could have utilised the grand budget to improve their governance. "But I will keep on with my mission to make the authorities realise their mistakes," he said.

Purpose of dumping garbage

When asked what his purpose was to take the pile of garbage to CM House, he said "The chief minister should also experience the smell of the burning garbage so that he can realise what a common man experiences in his daily life."

According to Khan, his mission is to make the people realise that there problems can only be solved if there is direct involvement of the government.

Further plans

Talking about his upcoming strategies, Khan said that they are working on different ideas that will be disclosed soon. "At the moment, they are celebrating my release as a victory," he said, adding how, during his time in police custody, he received respect from the police personnel. He added that he is working on a plan to clean all the lock-ups of the police station with the consultation of the police department after his experience in the lock-up.

'Not the way to contribute to society'

The special assistant to chief minister, Waqar Mehdi, said that the government has no personal issues with Khan but he should understand that this is not the way to contribute to society. He added that in progressive societies, people and government work together and it is an ideal model for development.

"We have offered him to talk to us instead of creating disorders on the road," said Mehdi. Responding to a question about governance, he said that no one likes to be criticised. He added that the Sindh government is paying a huge amount of Rs500 million in salaries to the employees of the local government departments. He also pointed out that they have lot of political appointees in local bodies' departments. "If we fire these employees from the departments, people will criticise us for sacking them," he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 27^th, 2016.