THATTA, Dec 2: Almost all government educational institutions including primary, secondary and high schools remained closed following arrest of two leaders of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA), Shoukat Rajput, president APCA education unit Thatta and Syed Sajjad Ali Shah district general secretary of APCA Thatta, in the early hours of Tuesday.

As a result, routine work at various nation-building departments remained suspended and hundreds of clerks and lower staff took to the streets to protest against the arrest of their colleagues, registration of cases and non-acceptance of their demands in Sujawal town on Tuesday.

The FIR was registered by the Executive District Officer Education (EDO) Abdul Wahab Abbasi, in the backdrop of a protest procession taken out by the members of NCHD, SDSSP feeder teachers on Monday.

Both of the activists were, however, released on Tuesday afternoon on bail granted by the second civil judge and judicial magistrate Thatta.

Interestingly the police also implicated Dr Ismail Palijo, general secretary of Peoples Doctors Forum Sindh and Neelam Abbasi, a councillor of UC Thatta and a social worker of the town. Besides some 200 to 300 NCHD protesting teachers were nominated in the FIR.

On Tuesday, responding the call of APCA, hundreds of clerks, peons, gardeners and other low cadre employees in collaboration with the activists of political parties wearing black armbands and chanting slogans against the DCO of Thatta Laeeq Memon and EDO Education Abdul Wahab Abbasi.

They took out a big procession and marched on the main thoroughfares of Sujawal town and also staged a sit-in on Thatta-Badin highway which suspended vehicular traffic for about two hours.

Speaking to the protesters, the APCA leaders Ghulam Qadir, Mohammad Nawaz, Bachal Leghari, Aziz Baghal and Lutfullah Memon said that since his induction EDO education Wahab Abbasi has created an atmosphere of harassment and deteriorated the academic standards in the town.

They said, the EDO Education has denied salaries to some 1,400 feeder teachers and was not allowing joining to the newly -promoted officers in the district. He has also shifted his office to his bungalow at an isolated place.

Due to his negligence, over 250 primary schools were closed in rural areas of the district and a practice of favouritism, nepotism and gratification was at its peak in his makeshift office.

They said, the EDO education was not accepting their just demands and threatened to expand the protest drive throughout Sindh if their demands were not accepted.

On Tuesday routine work at forest, education, health, agriculture, population planning and other departments remained suspended due to the clerks strike.