August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 17: The Sindh government has appointed 13 honorary district game wardens a few weeks after sacking 21 honorary game wardens, who were appointed by the previous regime.

The post of honorary district game warden has become a lucrative one over the years, some highly-placed sources reveal, saying that almost every successive government sacks game wardens and appoints its political supporters in their place until they meet the same fate.

The sources disclose that there are no qualifications required for the appointment and the chairman of the Sindh Wildlife Management Board – a post usually held by the provincial chief executive – can appoint anyone as an honorary district game warden. There is no tenure either and the person can retain the position till the board’s chairman wishes him to, they add.

They point out that the present government sacked 21 game wardens, appointed by the previous government, a few weeks ago to make way for fresh appointments.

The newly appointed honorary district game wardens and the districts assigned to them are: Shahabuddin Buriro (Karachi), Anwer Hussain Shah (Tando Mohammad Khan), Mohammad Ismail Chachar (Tando Allahyar), Amir Bahzad Memon (Matyari), Taj Mohammad Shah (Hyderabad), Ali Sher Khan Bhurt (Naushehro Feroz), Dr Mir Abdullah Talpur (Badin), Saleem Raza Jalbani (Nawabshah), Malak Shafqat (Jamshoro), Abdul Hameed Panhwar (Thatta), Mushtaq Ali Rind (Sanghar) and Amir Zeb Jatoi (Larkana).

The game wardens, who were sacked by the present government, are: Mohammad Hanif Khan Marwat (Karachi), Syed Riaz Hussain Shah Sherazi (Thatta), Syed Ghulam Hussain Shah (Badin), Syed Ghulam Nabi Shah (Nawabshah), Ali Hassan Kamario (Shikarpur), Malik Changez Khan (Jamshoro), Syed Zahid Hussain Shah Rizvi (Sukkur), Fakir Pir Bakhsh Gaho (Khairpur), Rais Shahnawaz Khan Khushik (Naushehro Feroz), Rais Ali Ghulam Nizamani (Sanghar), Arbab Abdul Sattar (Tharparkar), Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Jamote (Hyderabad), Mir Sikander Ali Banglani (Jacobabad), Ali Nawaz Marri (Mirpur Khas), Mir Ghulam Mustafa Talpur (Umerkot), Mir Ghulam Majeed Khan Sunderani (Kashmore), Syed Farman Ali Shah (Matyari), Noor Nabi Khan Chandio (Dadu), Shafi Mohammad Mashoori (Larkana), Burhan Khan Chandio (Kambar) and Ghulam Nabi Dall (Tando Allahyar).

The sources say the provision of the honorary game wardens, who are supposed to be selected for their conservationist approaches, was made in the wildlife laws to involve local people in wildlife protection and to check poaching and trafficking. They observe that local influentials used to be appointed game wardens to supplement the efforts of wildlife staffers, who might not be able to perform their duties in the remote areas effectively.

The honorary game wardens were supposed to pool in their resources to patrol the area and check poaching and wildlife trafficking effectively.

However, sources say, rather than pooling in their means to supplement the wildlife department’s resources, game wardens have started draining the department’s resources over the years. Now they demand that they be provided with vehicles, offices and other facilities. The more influential among them eventually succeed in getting the facilities. At least one such warden in lower Sindh managed to obtain a land cruiser from the department, while many others get lesser facilities.

Some wardens also use their position to develop contacts by looking the other way to allow influential people to hunt or by simply issuing hunting licences irrespective of the fact whether they are authorised to issue such permits.

The sources say in one such case a game warden permitted a deputy-inspector general of police to hunt in a protected area, though he was not authorised to issue such a permit. No action has been taken against the warden and the policeman so far, the sources add.