KARACHI, Sept 24: Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro of the Sindh High Court granted protective bail to Dr Mubarak Ali on Saturday. The applicant research scholar submitted through Advocates Abul Inam and Syed Mazharul Haque that he had been implicated in a bogus documents case registered in Lahore and apprehended arrest in a bailable offence. He sought protective bail to enable him to surrender before the trial sessions court in Lahore and seek prearrest bail from it.

Without dilating on the merits of the case, Justice Soomro admitted him to bail for 15 days in the sum of Rs50,000 and a personal bond in the like amount.

The counsel submitted that Dr Mubarak Ali was the author of about 50 books and over 200 articles on history, sociology, philosophy and culture. He arrived in Karachi after participating in a seminar in the US to attend a national conference at the University of Karachi earlier this week.

During his stay in Karachi, the counsel said, Dr Ali received a message from Lahore that a lawyer, Saoodul Hassan Khan, had lodged an FIR against publisher Zahoor Ahmad Khan, proprietor of Fiction House, and three others, including the applicant. The allegation was that they obtained bail from a Lahore sessions court in a case earlier lodged by the complainant by producing forged documents.

Except that Fiction House was publisher of his books, the counsel submitted, the applicant had nothing to do with the concern. There was some dispute between the complainant lawyer and the publisher and he signed a settlement reached by them as a mere witness.

He had been falsely implicated in the case with mala fide intention and for ulterior motive, the counsel said.